Cover Story
Best of Austin 2000
Readers’ and critics’ favorites
Lancelot of the Lake
Lancelot of the Lake NR, 85 min. Directed by Robert Bresson, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Luc Simon, Laura Duke-Condominas, Humbert Balsan. Everyone knows the stories about the knights who went off to fight the Crusades and win the Holy Grail. But what of the story about the men who returned feeling defeated…
L’argent
L’argent 1983, NR, 85 min. Directed by Robert Bresson, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Christian Patey, Caroline Lang. Bresson’s last film is a contemporary story (adapted from a Tolstoy novella) about capitalism and modernity. Many critics regard it as the very best film of the Eighties.
Ballet Mécanique, Le
Ballet Mécanique, Le NR, 19 min. Directed by Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . This short film is one of the seminal works of the avant-garde cinema. Made by the modern artist Fernand Léger ñ whose commercial and fine art works draw from cubism, dadaism, and constructivism ñ this…
Nude On the Moon
Nude On the Moon 1961, X, 83 min. Directed by Doris Wishman, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Marietta, William Mayer, Lester Brown, Pat Reilly, Ira Magee, Shelby Livingston, Lacey Kelly. Doris Wishman was the queen of the nudies, soft-core exploitation films made during the Sixties. Wishman wrote, directed, produced, cast, and edited all…
Food & Drink
Best BakeryUpper CrustFor 16 years, this family-run business has been churning out some of the best cinnamon rolls, among other baked yumminess, here in Austin. Their Gâteau Marissa cake is so popular that people call up to reserve a slice, knowing that once out of the oven, it doesn’t even last long enough to be…
Coach’s Corner
The UT Longhorns have two very good quarterbacks, but it’s a lie to say they’re both starters. And in tennis, Venus and Serena Williams are making it look so easy, people may not recognize just what unique talents they really are.
Aimée & Jaguar
Aimée & Jaguar 1999, NR, 133 min. Directed by Max Färberbock, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Sarah Camp, Kyra Mladeck, Inge Keller, Detlev Buck, Elisabeth Degen, Heike Makatsch, Johanna Wokalek, Juliane Köhler, Maria Schrader. Aimée & Jaguar was nominated this year for the Golden Globe’s Best Foreign Film, and although it lost to…
Best Restoration Project
Named for the revered father of Texas, the Stephen F. (as it’s known to locals) was built in 1924 to serve cattle barons, oil magnates, and statesmen in luxury and comfort. The grand old man fell on hard times during the bust-town Eighties and was shuttered for more than a decade while one renovation plan…
Best Bar Snacks
Merry olde England with a twist: Whether you want bangers & mash or fish & chips from across the pond, or just some good ol’ Texas nachos from across the creek, the green freehouse nestled downtown just off the Gallery District has the perfect complement for your pint of ale. Once you’ve doused the basket…
Best Webzine
Not just another Web site-for-grrls, Smileandactnice.com, created by former Chronicle staffers Jen Scoville and Louisa Brinsmade, has grrrl-attitude as focused as a surgical laser and visuals that are vibrant and sharply welcoming. But it’s the crystalline writing and the variety of topics that sets this e-location apart from the rest of the cybercrowd. You know…
Best Clothing
We’re still diggin’ on Markdown Madness, that crazy period where Old Navy marks down last week’s fashions (sometimes literally last week’s) for a fraction of the price. We bought cargo pants for $3.99 and some of those droopy baggy shorts for a mere buck. Whoa! Truth told, we also have a soft spot for their…
Best Locally Produced Tv Show
The one television program in this country that celebrates the diversity of American sounds is produced right here in Austin at our own KLRU. With its panoramic skyline gracing the backdrop, and incredible talent performing upstage, Austin City Limits has been defining the beat of this heart of Texas for 24 years running.
Best Plant Nursery
How big is an 800-year-old live oak tree? Big enough to be the star attraction of this unique nursery. Specializing in hard-to-find native plants, it also boasts its own waterfall that literally makes this urban oasis 10 degrees cooler than the rest of our city. Could that be why this place is so South Austin…
Best Place To Catch People Sleeping Between Classes
Since the Texas Union became the de facto food court of the West Mall, there’s little space for slumber. But the Teaching Center is a different story altogether. We doubt that the architects of this very 1970s building planned its darkened halls with sleeping students in mind. Nevertheless, it seems tailor-made for scholars slouching on…
Best TV Reporter
A star player on what’s become the most solid news team in town, KVUE-24’s Grizzaffi helps define what a smart and savvy town like Austin should expect from television news. Let’s hope she hangs around for a while.
Best Spectator Sport
After consecutive top-five recruiting classes from coach Mack Brown, expectations are sky-high as fans seek what could be the Longhorns’ first national championship since 1969. With pre-season top-10 rankings in every poll and an easy schedule to boot, the Horns should be playing shortly after New Year’s. This year’s biggest games? Other than the regular-season…
Best Unsung Hero/Heroes
In this, our first year for this category, we find that readers voted overwhelmingly for those men and women focused on the public good, whose endless energy and tireless dedication keep certain issues and agendas from being back-burnered by the powers that be. You’ll see that the list also includes some celebs and musicians to…
Best Printer/Copies
It’s 3am and you’ve just found the perfect job on the Internet. You’ve got your résumé, you’ve got your cover letter – you’ve got 24 hours until the job opening closes. Relax, there’s a Kinko’s right around the corner. They’re open all night and they’re always willing to help. Whether you need a computer, color…
Best Classic Musical Productions
How many times now have we seen the ad for a Gypsy or a Fiddler on the Roof or a Music Man and thought – well, maybe not. The play was a dinosaur; how good could a local production of it be? Yada yada. But then we go, and time after time, we’re blown away,…
Coolest Recycling Project
The airplanes no longer fly in and out of Mueller, but the big ol’ empty hangars left behind by the move to Bergstrom have not lain idle for long. Re-purposed as movie soundstages, their hulking shells are perfect for housing all the big equipment and make-believe sets that major movie production requires. Although some projects,…
Best Place To Do The Hully Gully
The last Saturday of every month we tease our hair, pull on our go-go boots, slick on some white lipstick, and shake it on over to Nasty’s for our favorite Sixties dance party. Every month a different local or touring act takes the stage for a series of three 30-minute sets, punctuated by DJ Sue’s…
Next Best Thing To Being In A London Pub
Just what is a freehouse? In England, pubs – public houses – are traditionally affiliated with a brewery. Freehouses are not. That simple. When Michael Parker and company took over the rambling two-story building a few months back, the old joint had suffered the revolving-door syndrome of businesses and badly needed a little TLC. Parker…
Best Mating Of Beer And Coffee
Gotta give it to Jo’s for perfectly epitomizing the SoCo zeitgeist. Cold beer and hot coffee? Why not? These subculture mavens got their chops down, and their beer license makes sitting outdoors on a hot day checking out the Vespa club and the scenesters that much more appealing.
Most Rock & Roll Pizza Joint
The solid red color scheme all over the walls of this new kid on the Loop is only broken by the monotoned mural portraits of famous rock icons like Roky Erickson and Nick Cave and the pool table up front. And don’t get us started on the jukebox: old standards from Johnny Cash and the…
Best Unexpected Toy Store Within A Store
We’ve been coming to this ecologically correct haven for our environmentally friendly needs for the garden and the house for some time now, but we hadn’t paid too much attention to what had kept our young ones so interested while we shopped – until lately. Eco-Wise has a quality toy selection featuring a clever assortment…
Best Old Hippie Web Site
There are many reasons why Austin developed its mystique in the Sixties and Seventies, and that spirit is celebrated with glee on this site. Here are the original beatnik/hippies of the Sixties, contemporaries of Janis Joplin and denizens of Austin’s underground who resided at an infamous West Campus complex called The Ghetto. From the Vulcan…
Wisest, Most Earnest Sentiment
Right near Kealing Park and Kealing Junior High, this sign greets passersby with the fine admonition: “It will not hurt to be nice.”
Best Place To Relive Junior High
Couples skate, all-boy skate, all-girl skate. Aw yeah, you know what we’re talkin’ about. Ever thought about reliving those nights at the rink? Well now you can. Every Tuesday night, 7-10pm, it’s adult skate night at Playland Skate. Bring your own wheels if you’ve got ’em; rollerblades are welcome as well. It’s just like you…
Best Austin-based Foreign Correspondent
One of the city’s best kept secrets, the Southwest correspondent for the Spanish (that’s Spain) news agency EFE might be the only U.S. foreign correspondent not living in New York City who doesn’t own a car and doesn’t even know how to drive. She has not driven to Huntsville, Brownsville, the King Ranch, Amarillo, Sierra…
Best Performance By A City Board
When the economy’s all a-go-go, those who stand in the way of projects often get run over. But the once-irrelevant Design Commission – which just, and finally, produced a set of official design guidelines for downtown – stood, arms akimbo, in front of the bloated corpus of the controversial Gotham condo tower on Town Lake,…
Best Alternative To Teaching Fido To Use A Condom
You can talk to Pebbles the poodle and her third-cousin Bam-Bam about safe sex all you want, but it’s never worked for us. Animal Trustees of Austin runs a low-cost, nonprofit spay-and-neuter clinic, with surgery done by a licensed DVM. Since 1997, they have left 18,557 animals gender-neutral. Empancipet is the Spaymobile covering Austin and…
Best Chain Pet Supply
Okay, the downside to those charming indie pet stores is they just don’t offer the miles of aisles and discount cards for the myriad economy packages of Wee-Wee Pads® we had to buy while training the new pups. That and the endless varieties of chew toys (anything to get them away from the sandals!). Petco…
Best Unexpected Place To Find Furry Love
If you’ve tried the Town Lake animal shelter and Austin’s Humane Society and haven’t found the cold, wet nose of your dreams, you might try some of Austin’s less-publicized animal rescue groups. Some cover a variety of animals, while others are breed-specific to greyhounds, Dalmatians, Labradors, etc. … Call to find that special someone to…
Best Movie-supply Store
Located right by the likes of 501 Studios and the Texas Filmmakers Society, Gear is the technical right arm to moviemakers working at every level of the industry. One day we saw the Gear guys loading up a truck for Spike Lee’s latest. It doesn’t get more professional than this.
Kids
Best ArcadeEinstein’s Video ArcadeIt doesn’t take a genius to tell that this is one of the more popular attractions on the drag, a place increasingly becoming overrun by high-end boutiques and chain eateries. Now how are ya supposed to blow off steam in places like that? It’s all relative, we guess. Fortunately, Einstein’s can fix…
About AIDS
Voyeurism can save your life!
Best Romantic Spot
Whether it’s your second date or your 25th anniversary, there’s something about the view from the top of Mount Bonnell that brings out the romantic in even the most world-weary cynic. Maybe it’s the sparkling river, or the twinkling city lights, or just the dizzying walk up the 100 steps to the top of this…
Best Bar Staff
Mixology: It ain’t rocket science, folks. But if it were, these cunning booze jockeys could send us to the Horsehead Nebula and back a dozen times by Christmas. Barbacks Christopher Walker and Jacob Schulze and bartenders Mendy Frohlich, Davis Comeau, Michael Nowlin, John Nordstrom, and Montgomery Conner comprise a sort of National Alcohol and Suaveness…
Best Bakery
For 16 years, this family-run business has been churning out some of the best cinnamon rolls, among other baked yumminess, here in Austin. Their Gâteau Marissa cake is so popular that people call up to reserve a slice, knowing that once out of the oven, it doesn’t even last long enough to be put in…
Best Clothing Resale
Low-down alternative journalists can carp all we want about the well-off, but we gotta come clean: Thrift stores in their neighborhoods rock! After all, when you’re looking to outfit the whole family, quality and durability are worth the search. It stands to reason that the hotbed of all that is true and Texas, our own…
Best Morning Radio Hosts
While Mssrs. Connor and Finney’s banter is so much less offensive to the mind, the heart, and the nerve-center than most Austin morning radio shows, don’t think for a minute that you’re going to snooze through the Kevin & Kevin Show if you have KGSR set for your early morning wake-up call. Clock radios and…
Best Record Store
Since 1982, Waterloo has been letting you listen to anything in the store. With a staff that is always knowledgeable and passionate about music, they rank as one of the best record stores anywhere. Waterloo is the destination for serious music lovers – a local establishment that pioneered what are now standard industry practices such…
Best Puppets On A Pulley
Christmas decorations are up all year round at Lala’s, where a jukebox of old standards keeps the place frozen in the past as well as in the holiday season. Our favorite part of the décor, though, is the collection of elves that hover over the bar and raise and lower as the door to the…
Best Weather Person
Our readers keep voting for fave weather guy Jim Spencer year after year. Could it be his charm? His warm smile? His National Weather Association’s Seal of Approval? His good standing in the American Meteorological Society? His public service work with CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), MDA, Helping Hand Home for Children, or ARC? Or…
Best Tennis Court
Whether it’s lessons, league play, or friendly rallies, “love” is always a dirty word at this mecca for Central Austin baseliners. The tennis center provides cold water at courtside for those looking to beat the heat and re-strings racquets in the pro shop.
Best Appliance/Tv Repair
When the gidgets and gadgets inside those entertainment boxes we are so fond of break down, we happily stroll over to Bond’s. Once inside, we have two options: get the sucker fixed or just buy a new one. Bond’s is another staple of the Enfield & 12th area of Austin and has been fixing TVs…
Best Shoe Repair
Shoes are mysterious, but the Shoe Hospital knows how to get to the “sole” of them. Take your broken-down dogs to the spa for shoes and soon they’ll be tap-tapping along comfortably.
Best Classical Gas
Adding strings to popular music has been the norm since they first started skinning kitty cats, but when Golden Arm Trio’s Graham Reynolds and Brown Whörnet’s Peter Stopschinski decided to flex their classical music training and write symphonies, they galvanized the entire Austin indie underground. It was a beautiful thing. Having gone on to bassoon…
Most Welcome New Art Scene Addition
Walk into this smart small space downtown, now in the midst of its fourth exhibition, and you can feel the professionalism humming in mid-air. David Berman, an affable former Brooklynite, runs a venue where elegantly minimal surroundings can hold all manner of visual wonders. We’re still reeling from the site’s “Pattern Language” debut and the…
Best Place To Watch Too Many Men Compete For Too Few Women
The band ain’t the only thing swingin’ at Cedar Street. Not even the two indoor bars that sandwich the spacious courtyard of Cedar Street are enough to house the raging hormones of Austin’s randiest singles. If the cloud of cigar smoke emanating from the patio is any indication, men are the favored gender in a…
Nicest Late-Night Surprise Birthday Party
It’s your honey’s birthday, and you’re looking for something special to do? Why not have a surprise party? Call the folks at Capital Cruises and arrange for a late-night cruise on Town Lake. Gather some friends (up to 70 people), grab some munchies and some CDs, then head down to the dock behind the Hyatt.…
Best Neighborhood Cookout
Perhaps the grooviest of all the retro-chic events happening here at this hot spot on the so cool SoCo strip is its weekly Steak Night. Chef Louis Lambert fires up the grill and has his great Liberty Catering staff serve steaks to the laid-back neighborhood crowd lounging around the comfortable San Jose courtyard. A soft…
Best 2 X 365 Ways To Keep A Kid Happy
Culver’s Frozen Custard Flavor-of-the-Day. Oh, mercy. We’re talking a year’s worth of flavors, a flavor a day, flavors that will make your head spin, your heart sing, and your tastebuds do the macarena. We’re talking about different flavors every day at each of Culver’s two locations. That’s 730 flavors a year! Don’t believe us? Here…
Best Use Of A Napkin
Melissa Cowden, a local mom, created napkins with upbeat notes on them for the kids’ lunch boxes. A box of 16 comes with a different design and message on each one. Messages like “Hanging around with you is great fun,” coupled with a drawing of upside-down bats, are intended to bring a smile to the…
Best Ongoing Coverage Of G. Dubyuh
No surprise here. The Texas Observer’s muckracking journalism has been annoying the hell out of Texas politicians for more than four decades now – from Robert Bryce’s incisive “Funeralgate” exposé to not beating around the Bush about our governor’s funding sources, legislative record, and environmental foul-ups. Having a Texan run for the presidency has only…
Best Adventure Story
Sanders, 23, spent six nights trapped on a glacier in the Swiss Alps and lived to tell about it. The Round Rock High graduate was hiking the sledding trails on Christmas Eve 1999 when a huge storm slammed into the side of the mountain near the famed Matterhorn. The lights of Zermatt, Switzerland, were about…
Best Potential For A Live Music Venue
If only every Saturday could be spent bowling with the sweet pop melodies of Houston’s Junior Varsity and Japan’s Lotti Collins playing in the background, as they did, right here in Austin last spring. Does Austin really need another live music venue? Yes!
Best Balancing Act
She balances the scales of justice by day as Judge Evelyn McKee and writes romance novels by night as Evelyn Palfrey. How does she do it? We’re not sure, but we’re certainly intrigued by the idea. As the presiding judge in Austin Municipal Court, McKee’s caseload runs the gamut of Class C misdemeanors and traffic…
Best Performance By A Dot-com
No, not its stock performance (we won’t go there), but its community reinvestment. The old ButterKrust bakery on Airport has been vacant for years. Dot-coms have been bustin’ out all over Austin looking for space. But it apparently took Hoover’s to put two and two together. They remind us that, unless employers start reusing urban-core…
Best Attempt To Change The Gay Social Scene
AMP is a nonprofit attempt to give young gay men in Austin a reason to get together that doesn’t necessarily include sex, alcohol, and a spinning disco ball. Not that the AMP coordinators are anti-fun, mind you; it’s just that they harbor the seemingly simple belief that the gay community might suffer fewer incidences of…
Best Cowboy Regalia
With eager waitstaff who look like they’re on their lunch break from the rodeo, minus the dust, this is the place to go for Texas belt buckles, cowboy hats, and boots, did we mention boots? Miles of them, each more two-steppable than the last. An urban cowboy’s (or cowgirl’s) dream.
Best Used CDs
The Drag, the Drag, the Drag is the answer to Technophilia’s location prayers. Having spent seven years in the Bluebonnet Plaza just around the corner next to Inner Sanctum (where Starbucks is now), this tiny used CD vanity shop relocated three years ago to one of the highest foot-traffic areas in Austin – a few…
Best Person To Ring ’em Up
A grocery clerk is a grocery clerk, right? Well, sure, unless you’ve fumbled your way through a trainee at the chain store or been grilled on what you are buying, and does it taste good? Karla brings to Central Market the same kind of professionalism she developed at Whole Foods (meaning she won’t ask about…
Media
Best News SourceThe Austin ChronicleOh, you know how we hate it when you make a fuss. For almost 20 years, the Chronicle has gone where the daily fears to tread, serving up honest, unflinching politics and entertainment news and features every week since 1981. The Chronicle has won its share of acolytes and enemies, but…
Road to Recovery
A private health care consultant has improved efficiency at the county’s primary health care clinics. Looming Medicaid cuts protenda new crisis.
Best Storefront/Sign
Built along the main highway out of town in 1938 and restored to its former glory in the mid-Nineties, the Austin Motel deserves an Austin salute for hundreds of reasons. To name just a few: It boasts both an old-style marquee advertising that it’s been “Corporate Free” since 1938 and a gorgeous Todd Sanders neon…
Best Casual Hangout
Kick back with a $2.50 bottle of Fat Tire and a plate of homemade tamales and watch the scenery go walking by. During the school year, Spider House is a people watcher’s haven; choose between the open-air patio and the dark, cozy interior of this restored house just north of campus for a quiet place…
Best Barbecue
After two decades of searing Texas meats, this smoke has stories to tell. The last time our folks were in town, we took them here. The leisurely drive out to Dripping Springs impressed them plenty, but the meal won them over for good. Two days later, as they were about to return home, they were…
Best Indoor Playscape
We can’t vouch for those insane, primary-colored, two-story tubey things, but we can tell you that our kid still digs the Capital Plaza Mickey-D’s with its overhead railroad and tribute to fast-food past. You voted this your fave out of all other indoor kiddie playscape options. Impressive in a town with so many.
Best News Source
Oh, you know how we hate it when you make a fuss. For almost 20 years, the Chronicle has gone where the daily fears to tread, serving up honest, unflinching politics, and entertainment news and features every week since 1981. The Chronicle has won its share of acolytes and enemies, but it’s stuck to its…
Best Thrift Store
Ataris, Nintendos, Super-8 projectors, synthesizers … Goodwill excels in collecting those vintage machines that most people can’t wait to get out of their closets, and we can’t wait to get into ours. By bringing in such a large volume of stuff, Goodwill ensures that there will always be something worthwhile to pick over, whether it’s…
Best Reason To Stay Off The Interstate Overnight
Got guests? In the early days of motor car traveling, major thoroughfares offered all kinds of roadside motels from which to choose. Nowadays, these options mostly exist on access roads of interstate highways in the form of chains. Sure, they’re affordable options, but Austin is blessed to have two alternatives, both on South Congress and…
Best Basketball Court
A favorite among longtime Austinites, Enfield Park couldn’t be a cozier place to drain the pill. Tucked away just west of MoPac, you can usually find a competitive half-court pickup game here while others are at happy hour.
Best City Department
It’s a dangerous job, the pay is low, and the hours are long and grueling. Nonetheless, the men and women at AFD have chosen to spend their days making Austin a safer place for the rest of us to live in, and for that they are truly among the city’s heroes.
Best Auto Service/Repair
Rarely has a nom de plume inspired such devotion amongst patrons of the auto shop. The “Home of the Groovy Mechanics” is a shining beacon against the gloomy backdrop of the automobile malady. Steady service, attention to detail, and even a sympathetic ear await all ye who enter. A similar yet divergent plume can be…
Best Spa
For more than 20 years, folks have been coming to this lovely outpost on Lake Austin to rest, restore, and rejuvenate. Whether you’re looking for a weekend getaway or a couple of weeks of serious diet and exercise, this is just the spot for some Hill Country-style pampering. The biggest drawing card here is the…
Best Dance Leader
Creating vibrant, innovative dance is one talent. Guiding a growing arts institution is another. Stephen Mills is gifted in both, as he proved repeatedly throughout the 1999-2000 season as interim artistic director of Ballet Austin. As the company moved out of the era of former artistic director Lambros Lambrou and through a yearlong search for…
Best Bar Crawl With Easy Parking
USE THIS ONE!!! Why bother with downtown when you have Burnet Road? Start with a beer, pickled egg, sausage, and crackers at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon. Country troubadour Dale Watson plays there on Thursdays when he’s in town. From there, crawl on up to the Poodle Dog Lounge to shoot some pool or feed the…
Best Proof Drugs Don’t Kill You
The Band Too Dumb to Die turned 25 last year. That means for a quarter-century Kerry Awn, David Perkoff, Artly Snuff, and company have been skewering Austin’s fabled hip factor with irreverent glee. Not a political trend or musical talent misses the Savages’ scrutiny, and the addition of the Eddy Sisters a few years ago…
Sanest Place To Take Mom Clubbing
Smooth, cool jazz, a mandolin quartet sometimes thrown into the mix, the Elephant Room offers all the lively vibe of Austin’s music scene, without all the hype. Comfortably tucked away in a low-ceilinged basement just below Congress Avenue, dimly lit with a long bar, a healthy selection of draft beers, plenty of tables, a considerate…
Best Oriental Seafood
In much of the Orient, restaurants keep their fish alive in tanks, awaiting a hungry diner’s selection. Restaurants in the States rarely go to the trouble to keep live fish. T&S does, assuring the freshest possible taste. Perhaps the best recommendation for T&S is that some of Austin’s finest chefs go there on their nights…
Best Heartwarming Moment On Rails
When the train goes by and all the kids wave. Maybe in some places kids throw rocks, but our young folk get really ecstatic when the train goes by. Then kids on the train wave, too. Awww … We can’t help it, it’s so darned sweet!
Most Impressive Comeback
Four years ago, Martin Junior High was one of only four schools in the five-county area tagged as a low performer by the Texas Education Agency. But 1999, when Martin was declared a blue-ribbon winner by the U.S. Dept. of Education, was one of the proudest years in the school’s history. TAAS scores are way…
Best Online Show List
More than just a list of underground rock shows, the Texas Show List gives you the lowdown on underpublicized performances at nontraditional venues as well as information on new Texas recordings, zines, microbroadcasters, and political actions. Usually updated each Friday, the List is a solid, no-frills example of technology in the service of grass roots.…
Best Alternate Route To San Antonio
We try not to bitch too much about I-35; after all, it’s our front yard. But as anyone who’s driven to San Antonio knows, the trip plain sucks. What should be a fairly straightforward, hour-or-so trek has become anything but. Between the construction and the monolithic trucks, it’s almost impossible to arrive at either destination…
Best Reason To Attend UT
Boasting an indoor jogging track, a seven-lane swimming pool, a climbing wall, 10 wallyball courts, a horde of sorority girls (when in season), and so much more, the relatively recently revamped Gregory Gym is available to UT students for the incredibly low price of: nothing (if you don’t count the massive student fees that Mom…
Best City Bureaucrat
As the city’s point man on its thorniest public-policy issue – affordable housing – Hilgers, the city’s community development officer, better be good. He has been. He’s taken on the corrupt logrollers (including his predecessor) that, sadly, turn up often on this turf. He’s gotten the city to spend its own money, and not just…
Best Performance By A Neighborhood Coalition
When thousands of ordinary Round Rockers showed up and made noise, they became SH 130 backers’ worst nightmare. The people for whom the highway was, ultimately, being built made loud and clear they didn’t want it unless the Texas Turnpike Authority abandoned its controversial preferred alignment. They deserve much of the credit for the TTA’s…
Best Austin History
Wanna know who lived in your house in 1932? How about how the city reacted the time a City Council member walked into a bar and stabbed a co-councilman? It’s all at the Austin History Center, Austin’s own archive containing thousands of feet of files, photographs, maps, and microfilm pertaining to just about everything in…
Best Dirt On Dirt
When we were inquiring about what dirt would be best for mud wrestling (loam, it turns out), these professional soil purveyors didn’t bat an eyelash.
Best Welcome To The Neighborhood
When Central Market opened their store south of the river, it wished to say howdy and welcome to its neighbors. Now, this isn’t exactly a new concept in retailing; most places have a grand opening that often includes door prizes, special sales, etc. Well, these folks engendered a whole lot of good neighborly feeling and…
Best Piano Tuner
You have to wonder how this much competence can reside in one woman. Not only is the tuning job impeccable, but should your set of 88s develop some kind of weird ring, zing, or whooshing sound, Karla can often walk you through a repair – over the phone! If not, she’ll be right over and…
Outdoors & Entertainment
Best Basketball CourtEnfield ParkA favorite among longtime Austinites, Enfield Park couldn’t be a cozier place to drain the pill. Tucked away just west of MoPac, you can usually find a competitive half-court pickup game here while others are at happy hour.2000 Enfield, 499-6700Best Bowling AlleyShowplace LanesAre you looking for a place to do something different…
Naked City
Shane Phelps debates Ronnie Earle, Hyde Park Baptist gets go-ahead in the Quarries, KJFK changes formats and call letters
Best Annual Event
Too young to remember San Francisco 1967? Eeyore’s Birthday Party gives everyone a chance to experience a groovy slice of that once upon-a-time summer of love. Sing, dance, drum, chant! While Austin may be hustling to keep its place as a turn-of-the-millennium hotbed of dot-com activity, Eeyore’s reminds us what the heart and soul of…
Best Dance Music Club
Hundreds of specks of light rotate around the dance floor while the best selection of Seventies and Eighties pop songs pump through the speakers. This is disco without the cheese. Boogie lovers can choose from three floors of dancing pleasure that play everything from retro to techno. You can’t go wrong at Polly Esther’s, whether…
Best Breakfast
With a fourth location having opened up on the Drag earlier this year, the folks at Kerbey Lane keep spreading their kitchen magic across Austin. Their pancakes and omelets are legends in this town. Late nights and early Sunday mornings were made to savor this experience.
Best Party Entertainer
W. C. Fields would not have lasted long in this act. Obviously, Darren Peterson, the man behind the dog, loves dogs and kids, and shows it in his circus style act, featuring said dog who jumps rope and catches Frisbees® (and has done so on Donnie & Marie and The Late Show With David Letterman)…
Best Photographer
As enigmatic as he is arty, Wolfson’s images take editorial photography to the brink of high fashion when he transforms local yokels into big-city folk.
Best Used Records/CDs
The building that used to be the old Whole Foods before it moved down the street now houses rows and rows of used CDs. The music selection lives up to its name – it’s certainly affordable. You can find everything here, no matter your musical tastes. After thumbing through the well-organized sections of jazz, blues,…
Best Restaurant Décor Design
Though we appreciate the work that turned the inside of the Treehouse Italian Grill into a rustic Italian trattoria and the truly hilarious scenes he painted in the bathrooms at Round Rock’s New York Deli, the most definitive examples of muralist Michael Peschka’s work can be found inside, outside, and on top of Taco X-press.…
Best Bike Ride And Day Hike
Where else can you go to get completely away from urban life without leaving the city? Less citified than Town Lake’s hike-and-bike routes, Austin’s greenbelt defines nature: no pavement, no restrooms, no lights. Just 7.5 miles of grassy trails, rock formations, and endless beauty. Don’t forget your water bottle.
Best City Service
It’s a banner year for our local angels who serve the HIV-positive community. Not only have you voted them the “Best of Austin,” but 10 years after their founding, they’ve just recently moved into new digs as well; that means more room for this dedicated team of physicians, nurses, and support staff to provide a…
Best Barber Shop
First let’s clear something up: It’s the Wooten Barber Shop, not the Goodall-Wooten Barber Shop. Goodall-Wooten is the name of the dormitory which houses the venerable hair hut. Not that it’s not “all good” – it is. Especially when they strop you with a straight razor, then powder your hairline and then, just when you…
Best Tailor
The tailors at Ace deliver just what their company logo’s design would lead you to believe: old-fashioned values like care and consideration and the sort of attention to detail that sent you searching for a tailor in the first place or as C. Porter might’ve put it, “Reconsider loathing your out-of-date clothing, dear – have…
Best Dream Designer
A snow-haired woman in a canary yellow vinyl dress emerges from a giant white clamshell. Ethereal figures in white antique dress glide past white walls in which chairs are mysteriously fused. A man dressed as President Lincoln sits atop a mound of earth seeded with hundreds of pennies. In other cities, people have to wait…
Best Bar To Relax In Without Getting Hit On
You’ve seen it before – floor-to-ceiling windows, relaxed patio environment just steps away from Sixth Street, the crimson lights of the omnipresent neon sign – but have you stepped inside? Mercilessly trendy (Cosmos were so last century) but lacking the pretension of other Austin dives (throw on those sandals), Star Bar is the ideal setting…
Best Real Country Music
Three times was a charm for the Austin Celtic Association Celtic Festival, which was rained out the first two years. This year it was moved to the Dog & Duck Pub, where it drew respectable crowds with a diverse offering of Celtic music from Scottish bagpipes to Breton players. The in-town location was more accessible…
Best Affordable Mediterranean Takeout Food
Just like the folks who actually live in the Northwest Hills neighborhood where Cafe Mia is located, we find ourselves dropping in here every week to load up on chef/owner Adrian Creasey’s hearty and affordable food. The caper-laden fresh tomato bruschetta and hefty lamb gyro on grilled focaccia are among our favorites, with great value…
Best Place For A First Date
We go to Castle Hill when we want to fall in love. The lighting is dim, the dishes divine, and the menu lends itself to hours of discussion. Castle Hill is the spot to have a long talk about an old novel. It’s perfect for gazing at the new love of your life across your…
Best Kiddie Singles Bar
This branch of the steadily growing Dallas entertainment megaplex is primarily geared toward adults, which is pretty funny, since it is essentially a video arcade. You might say D&B appeals to the kid in all of us, or more accurately, the raging hormone-engorged adolescent in all of us. They’ve got all the latest hightech gadgetry…
Best Online Journal
This online diary by a chick in comedy troupe Monks’ Night Out is one of the best bored-at-the-office time-wasters this side of Quake. Austin-based Pamie’s musings know no bounds, and whether recounting her attempts to make it to work on time or conducting a discussion of the female orgasm with her many devoted readers, every…
Best Place To Surf, Er, Bike The Web
Michael Bluejay is determined to save the world, one turn of the pedal at a time. He does so quite effectively on his very thorough Web site, covering every cycling issue imaginable. The highlight is an excellent manual on bicycling safety – it is possible to cycle in an urban environment and not get run…
Best and Brightest Historical Landmarks
Splendiferous name. In 1895, 31 originals were installed as lights illuminating our once-bucolic village, and today 17 remain in various locations. You may have overlooked them in Ausprawl, but they are tall – 165 feet tall – and impressive. Imagine back then … each tower illuminated a circle of 3,000 feet using six carbon arc…
Best Snorkeling
We love snorkeling. On a hot day, nothing feels better than donning a mask and fins and diving in. And only at Barton Springs can we find the elusive crawfish. The fascinating turtle. The filmy forests of seaweed. And most thrilling of all, the many varieties of kicking, paddling feet.
Best Comeback
Radio host Pryor has struggled with alcoholism and other problems, bouncing from station to station, into, out of, and back into radio, and going from liberal to mean, Limbaughesque conservative, and finally to conservative-but-nicer on KVET. His latest incarnation was his most engaging, and was unfortunately cut short by a serious illness which currently has…
Best Political Put Down
With the spin machines working full-tilt boogie, political rhetoric often gets duller than dishwater. But on occasion, a few memorable zingers shine through the muck. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Lieberman let fly a memorable one on August 29 when he hit George W. Bush with a cartoon analogy. “It’s just this simple,” Lieberman told…
Best Clinical Nutritionist
Gather here all ye who are tired of dragging around that ball-and-chain of this or that physical ailment. Come in, put your complaints – and lifestyle – on the table and work with Dr. Heffley to figure out whether what you are eating – or not eating – could be the culprit. Fear not: The…
Best Futons
All futon frames are not created equal. Some fly-by-night manufacturers use cheap wood and tiny nails you wouldn’t hang a $3 clock with, but you won’t find such shoddy workmanship at Texas Futon Company. This family-owned shop offers a variety of extra-solid wooden and metal frames at very affordable prices. Mattresses are covered by five-…
Best Year-round Winter Wonderland
One hundred degrees in the shade, and Christmas is still seven months away? Jump in the sleigh and head on down to the Pecan Square Emporium, where every day is Christmas Eve and there’s always a bit of snow dusting the ground. It may be blazing summer outside, but inside the Emporium it’s a dim,…
Best Place To Buy A Hot Rod
“Hot rods wanted, dead or alive,” reads the sign in front of Sam’s Auto, home of cars to die for in all stages of restoration and decay, from a smokin’ flame-painted ’67 Thunderbird to a bombed-out shell of a ’70 Charger. Even the traffic on I-35 doesn’t seem so bad from behind the wheel of…
Politics
Best City DepartmentAustin Fire DepartmentIt’s a dangerous job, the pay is low, and the hours are long and grueling. Nonetheless, the men and women at AFD have chosen to spend their days making Austin a safer place for the rest of us to live in, and for that they are truly among the city’s heroes.1621…
Naked City
Pro-light rail forces appear to have the advantage, both in numbers and funding, over light rail opponents.
Best Art Gallery
Drawing on respectable selections of the stars of world-renowned art has given Art on 5th its stellar reputation. Exhibits of Dr. Seuss and Andy Warhol have been the most famous works to come through, but the biannual vintage poster exhibit and sale is always popular as well. Austin artists comprise about a fourth of the…
Best Drink Specials/Happy Hour
Mango, prickly pear, strawberry, banana, and the ever deadly “Swirl”: just some of the famous, tropical fruit-bursting margaritas oozing with sun-kissed flavor that await your palate at Trudy’s Happy Hour. While the official period of merriment (and slacker prices) extend from 2-7pm (and all day Monday), the place is so comfy, you’ll feel happy there…
Best Cake Decorators
How can a retail outlet that fills orders for Lady Bird Johnson not make the top of the list? Cakes of every shape, size, and color are baked here. They can do completely original designs, create one from the theme of your choosing, or consult with you about ideas; they can even do like the…
Best Party Supplies
Need some crepe paper and birthday candles in a hurry? It’s Party Pig to the rescue! Christmas lights, Halloween costumes, tiki torches, and Thanksgiving decorations pack each location of this glorious temple to the party gods.
Best Public Access TV Show
Every Wednesday night at 10pm, this ragtag band of filmgoers, led by Korey Coleman, let the barbs fly when they offer their layman’s take on Hollywood movies. The best part of the show, however, is the chemistry between them and the goofball antics that make their hourlong film review program the funniest variety show on…
Best Vintage
Whether you poke around in cowpoke shirts, Hawaiian print, corduroy pants, and polyester-blend slacks or sashay in Chinese silk dresses, sequins, halter tops, and vintage shirts, you never know quite what you will find at Blue Velvet, but you’re sure to find something.The whole shopping experience is wonderfully mellow with a helpful but low-key staff…
Best Roof For Lounging
Okay, so there are other rooftops in town for people to gather upon, and those places might have decks and seating as comfortable as this one, not to mention views equally as edifying. But this top-o’-the-building getaway is the zenith of the Artplex, which means that the folks relaxing up there are among the more…
Best Bowling Alley
Are you looking for a place to do something different on a Friday night? Go hit the alleys and let Showplace Lanes redefine your bowling experience. They add a little spunk and juice to each game by throwing in some music and disco flavor. It’s open late, is well-maintained, and has an excellent staff to…
Best Council Member
Now that the sight of Slusher ducking, instead of throwing, bombs no longer shocks us, we can start to appreciate the many political roles played by our erstwhile former Chronicle comrade. Watson go-to guy or opposition firebrand? Smooth inside operator or populist reformer? In his four years on the City Council, the answer is “all…
Best Bicycle Repair
University Schwinn resides in a building along North Lamar with some of the tallest windows, allowing Austin to drool over the shiny new two-wheelers or to giggle at the spinning classes going on in the evenings (They pedal, but they don’t go anywhere!). The repair shop at University Schwinn is always ready for alterations to…
Best Antiques
The gold standard for local decorative arts, Whit Hanks’ emporium (empire?) is no bargain basement. But if you want a little piece (or a big piece) of time-tested classic design in your home, and you want value for the money you spend, you could do far worse than Austin’s best full-service antiques dealer.
Best Fashion Fantasist
An accomplished designer with an extensive understanding of fashion and fantasy, Bonnell takes what could be ordinary theatrical wear and transforms it into haute couture costumes of high style and soaring imagination. Her wizard’s touch has graced such Zachary Scott Theatre Center productions as Tommy, The Santaland Diaries, and Schoolhouse Rock, but no show shows…
Best Buena Vista Social Club
While the room itself is still no Liberty Lunch, the lack of ambience has not stopped Direct Events from booking some of the hippest international acts touring. Cuban music in particular, one of the hottest musical trends at the turn of the century, has flourished at the venue: Promethean pianist Chucho Valdes, Buena Vista Social…
Best Reason To Miss ER
If it’s 9pm on a Thursday, there are better things to be doing than watching TV. Git yerself on down to the only true honky-tonk in North Austin and catch the hard-core country stylings of Mr. Watson. And hey, with George Clooney gone, you need another ruggedly handsome hunk in your life, don’t you?
Best Backbreaking Service With A Smile
We know waiting on tables anywhere can be a pain in the neck. But imagine serving all those bozos while they’re trying to watch a film – now that’s an all-over body ache. Although owners Tim and Karrie League can claim bragging rights for the five-year-old movie house’s wink-wink programming and quick rise as a…
Best Smiling Service In A Restaurant
Don’t get us wrong. The food at Maudie’s is great. But if you ask us why it’s standing-room-only at lunch every day, we have a simple answer: the staff. We never get tired of watching the way they care for the customers and for each other. No matter how harried, how crazy, how rushed it…
Best Kids Summer Drama Camp
They made us sit out an entire summer while they regrouped, but now they’re back! The intensive, all-day, four-week program, now at the Dell Center, for kids who like to act out onstage, features a serious curriculum, covering the dramatic landscape from playwriting and directing to comedy, improv, Shakespeare, and mime. This camp is about…
Best Book Title Of The Year
As usual, the seemingly only liberal voice on talk radio (who still isn’t carried on his hometown airwaves!) starts cutting through the BS before you even open the book. When it comes to Hightower’s works – his previous tome was titled There’s Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos…
Best Place Where All Your Groovy Friends Work
The first time we didn’t think much about it. The second, a coincidence, but after a while it got ridiculous: All the cool people we met worked at Human Code. One after another, they seemed to disprove what we had assumed about tech geeks – they were possessed of a twisted sense of humor, creative…
Best Armadillo Watching
Austin is blessed with many reasons to put on your hiking boots. We’ve got places to canoe, fish, and bike. And right in South Austin we have world-class armadillo watching. We recommend a cold drink, comfortable shoes, and few hours to wander around McKinney Falls’ 744 acres. We’ve seen four armadillos in an afternoon: Beat…
Best Something For Nothing
Don’t know pool from pinochle? Well, partner, here’s your chance to learn. At the Cue, the drinks are always cold and the pool is always free. And as our momma always told us, you can’t beat free. Grab a huge, frosty Cue ‘rita in one hand and a pool cue in the other and claim…
Best Dream Come True
While many a person has stood outside the Continental looking across the street saying “That’s a hell of a setup,” it took Liz Lambert to make the dream come true. The ex-prosecuting attorney for the DA in Manhattan returned to roots here in Austin and purchased the besieged fleabag with the intention of turning it…
Best Pursuit Of Bad Guys
When famed atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair disappeared in 1995, along with her son Jon Garth Murray and granddaughter Robin Murray-O’Hair, few people cared. Some even cheered. But MacCormack, a reporter with the San Antonio Express-News, Young, a private investigator, Martin, an IRS agent, and Cowling, an FBI agent, wouldn’t let the matter die. The four…
Best Dog Behavior Miracle Worker
We have a deaf Dalmatian with issues: agoraphobia, a submissive pee-er who bites out of fear. Another local trainer repeatedly suggested euthanizing our pretty puppy; fortunately, we found Janice. After months of weekly, in-home, private lessons, we have a reasonable approximation of a normal dog! A professional dog trainer since ’97, Patton also offers standard…
Best Head Space
Sound Exchange is bigger, Alien is more specialized, and Waterloo has an actual stage for its in-stores, but no other local new and used record store does more with its “head” room. Specializing in music for Austin’s notoriously cross-armed music intelligentsia – categories include “psychedelic,” “gothic,” “jazz improv,” “garage punk,” “experimental,” “composers,” and “techno” -…
Coolest Old Wedding Gowns
Gibson girl or flower child, this shop has the “something old” part covered. When Vera Wang doesn’t quite cut it for you, Rex will outfit you in vintage fantasies of laces and satins, and the walk down the aisle embraces the future as well as the glorious past.
Best Place To Go When Fido Is Barfing At 4am
Seeing your pet sick is no fun. It’s as hard as seeing your child ill. Worse, what happens at 3am when you know something is seriously wrong with Fido? A late-night visit to Kerbey Lane South made us aware of the clinic’s presence; two weeks later, the pup became seriously ill at 2am and we…
Architecture & Lodging
Iciest ReceptionReddy IceThere it stands, staunchly, quietly, and mysteriously, while everything around it burgeons with remodeling and music and thousands of young people arriving and laughing and drinking and leaving. If you had a time-lapse film reel that presented the last five or 10 or even 50 years of the strip of Red River that…
Services
Best Appliance/TV RepairBond’sWhen the gidgets and gadgets inside those entertainment boxes we are so fond of break down, we happily stroll over to Bond’s. Once inside, we have two options: get the sucker fixed or just buy a new one. Bond’s is another staple of the Enfield & 12th area of Austin and has been…
Naked City
Austin parks are getting a much-needed infusion of cash in the latest city budget.
Best Architect
Homegrown and UT-educated, Little’s aesthetic strengths are matched only by her commitment to the revitalization of existing homes and historical buildings. Among other projects you can thank her for are 14 of the moonlight towers around town, which Little restored.
Best Author/Poet
Ooooh! Two years in a row for our woman of letters. What can’t Sharon Bridgforth do? Last year’s release of her first book, the bull-jean stories, put her on the few remaining maps she wasn’t already on, but that and a book tour weren’t enough. Our iambic activist ( – though we don’t know a…
Best Jukebox
Now appearing this fall, David Allan Coe, Ike & Tina Turner, Iron Maiden, and Glen Campbell. Well, maybe not in person, but for the best diversity of jukebox music, nothing beats the sounds that emanate from the Casino – a must-do pitstop on your next Sixth Street crawl.
Best Caterer
Word of Mouth has reigned as Austin’s top caterer almost since its inception in the mid-Eighties, and the talented team of Rebecca Wallace and Leslie Moore show no signs of slowing down. From their busy downtown compound, the dynamic duo and their crack staff can arrange a party for the president, a small romantic dinner,…
Best Playground/Park
This playground not only includes a playscape that is equally entertaining to toddlers as it is to teens, it also has the zesty Zilker Zephyr miniature train that beckons riders, and the incomparable Barton Springs for your swimming pleasure. Beat that.
Best Radio Station
Let ’em call us K-Geezers, we don’t give a hoot. Chronicle readers tune in to KGSR in the car, at work, and at home to stay in touch with what local (and visiting) musicians are playing, where they’re playing it, and what they’ve got to say about it. Kevin & Kevin kick-start the work day,…
Best Balcony
After several years of renovation, the old Stephen F. Austin Hotel has finally reopened under the Intercontinental flag. The lobby is majestic, the rooms are first class. But the coolest thing about the new hotel is its balcony. Located on the second floor off the Stephen F. Bar, the balcony was a part of the…
Best Theatre Space Improvement
Those of us who remember the early sweltering days of this performance space are undyingly grateful for the new air-conditioning units installed, for thousands of dollars, by the resident Rude Mechanicals. The new cooling system generates 20 tons of BTUs to chillify an estimated 4,500 square feet of prime performance space. And the manufacturer? Ruud,…
Best Day Hike
SEE BIKE RIDE
Best Effort To Improve Austin
SOS helped to pass the ordinance that protects water quality in Austin. They are also responsible for having the Barton Springs salamander recognized as an endangered species. We thank them for their perseverance and for making developers, local government, and citizens alike accountable for the use and misuse of Austin’s waterways.
Best Car Wash
Watch the car magically move through the tunnel of a thousand chamois! Knock back a complimentary cup of brew! Buy an overlooked birthday card from the extensive selection! And oh yeah, get a really clean car, too!
Best Austin/Texas Souvenirs
Question: What is Austin’s largest souvenir? Answer: Its airport. There’s no mistaking, to those who pass through, that Austin Bergstrom International Airport screams “Austin.” Here, passersby are told about Austin museums and local legends. The airport eateries, Amy’s Ice Cream, Matt’s El Rancho, and the Salt Lick are completely unique to Austin, not just Texas.…
Best Interactive Art Exhibition
Tired of static, two-dimensional canvases that passively engage the audience? Then check out “Dynamic Opposition,” a selection of constructive and kinetic art that actually demands viewers take an active role. In fact, much of the work needs a viewer’s movement to “make it work.” The result is a roomful of dynamic structures that dazzle the…
Best Defunct Eighties Band Name Etched In Concrete
Before moving to Austin in the late 1980s, we had an Austin Chronicle subscription. One band we’d find mentioned in every Chronicle was Scratch Acid, the prototype that eventually became the Jesus Lizard, one of the most influential, hard, edgy rockers of the Nineties. While dearly departed, Scratch Acid lives on in the hearts of…
Best Return Of 19th-century Texas
In the span of about two months, three novels were published that all took place in 19th-century Texas: Stephen Harrigan’s masterful reconstruction of the battle at the Alamo, The Gates of the Alamo; Bud Shrake’s The Borderland, which picks up, as if on cue, several years after the close of Harrigan’s novel; and A Twist…
Best Canned Music
As more and more restaurants subscribe to satellite music formats no different from what you hear on the radio, one begins to long for the days of bona fide “elevator music.” HomeTown Buffet is one of the few eateries that still pipes in bastardized instrumental remakes of hit tunes where jaw-dropping vapidity promotes a sense…
Best South Austin Neighborhood Preservation
High Time Tea Bar & Brain Gym closed, but the building owner (Leslie Moore of Word of Mouth Catering) cared enough about maintaining the eclectic charm of the neighborhood that she leased to Leslie Martin and Lisa Goodell, two local waitstaff goddesses who caffeinate and cook with aplomb. It is an all-veggie menu with yummies…
Best Kids’ Science Web Page
Whoa! “Pond Scum” is going to mean a whole lot more than a nasty grade school slur after your young one visits this site! Mixing scientific principles with a child’s creativity, the folks at the Austin Nature & Science Center and Roger Stryker’s fifth-grade class at Baranoff Elementary School explain the biology of a pond…
Best Documentary Labor Of Love
In addition to being head of production of the RTF program at UT, Stekler knocks out award-winning documentaries in what can’t be a lot of spare time. He’s a six-time Emmy nominee, winning twice, and this year saw his brilliant examination of demagogue Wallace win the Special Jury Prize for Documentary Writing at 2000 Sundance…
Best Presentation Of A Delicate Subject
Austin American-Statesman feature writer Julie Bonnin deserves special recognition for trusting her sensibilities in both her research and writing of “Who Killed Caitlin?,” the story of a 12-year-old girl who hanged herself in the bathroom of Cedar Park Middle School. Bonnin dug deep, yet recognized the sensitive nature of the subject. Few reporters – or…
Best Beer Ball
The Round Rock Express has given Austin the closest thing to a big-league sports franchise. Yet if minor-league baseball and Spike aren’t enough to lure you out to cheer on the home team, maybe “Thirsty Thursdays” will with its $1 beers and sodas. What a deal! Just make sure to have a designated driver -…
Best Sunset With A Shiner
If Regis hasn’t called recently but you still want to feel like a million bucks, head to the Dry Creek. You’ve got the same view as the mansion down the street! You’ve got a cold beer and an Austin sunset! So what if your wooden chair is broken and your table is covered with cigarette…
Best Drunken Poet
Okay, so we covered him in a feature since this category came up, but still, check out a different kind of early show on Thursdays around 8pm or so at Room 710, from a man who growls that he “could kick Ed Hamell’s ass any day – but I’ll wait till he’s recovered from his…
Best Reason To Buy A Get-well Card
While the Democratic Party keeps looking more and more like the GOP, Molly Ivins remains a true believer – she’s liberal, she’s unapologetic, and she’s ours. And we’d like to keep her, so we wish the Austin-based Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist a speedy recovery from breast cancer. Take her advice: Don’t be stubborn or lazy…
Best Shelter From The Storm
This cozy wood-frame home in Austin’s Eastside serves as a temporary shelter for many Spanish-speaking immigrants who arrive here empty-handed but willing to lay bricks, mop the floors, dig a hole – whatever it takes to put food on the table and send money back home to their families. It goes without saying that this…
Best Hidden Art Gallery Worth Searching For
Yes, it’s really a gift shop, not an “art gallery,” and yes, it’s in the Arboretum. But that’s no reason to shy away from Artisans, where you’ll find tons of unique, handcrafted treasures and friendly, personal, totally un-stuck-up service no matter what your price range is. Although we’ve sought out Artisans every Christmas since discovering…
Most Helpful Auto Parts Store
Some of us love our Japanese imports and can’t let go, even if they were built when Jimmy Carter was president. But sometimes the faces behind those chain store counters go blank when we bring our worn parts in for replacement. At Van’s, discontinued items are more like a challenge. They’ll cross-check to see if…
Best Place To Learn To Make Your Own Digital Movie
So you wanna make movies? No more excuses. Even if your name isn’t Rodriguez, it’s easier and more affordable than ever to make movies. Under one roof, ADVC is a bunch of digvidphiles who have everything it takes to get a project in the can. Start with an in-depth class or jump right in with…
Arts & Entertainment
Best Casual GraceAcia GrayWhen rhythm tap master Acia Gray does her thing, it’s clear that she’s just doin’ what comes naturally. We have no other explanation for her uncanny ease of movement, the effortlessness of her syncopation, and the unbridled joy she expresses in both feet and face. This co-founder of Tapestry Dance Company has…
Shopping
Best Austin/Texas SouvenirsAustin Bergstrom International AirportQuestion: What is Austin’s largest souvenir? Answer: Its airport. There’s no mistaking, to those who pass through, that Austin Bergstrom International Airport screams “Austin.” Here, passersby are told about Austin museums and local legends. The airport eateries, Amy’s Ice Cream, Matt’s El Rancho, and the Salt Lick are completely unique…
Naked City
Over neighbors’ objections, BFI plans to relocate its recycling center to a site adjacent to the Kensington Park Community.
Best Bed & Breakfast
This category’s a toss-up, and with good reason: The Governor’s Inn and the Miller-Crockett House both offer comfortable accommodations, genial hosts, and plenty of 19th-century ambience and charm. The Governor’s Inn, situated in the heart of West Campus, is a great place to send out-of-towners who want to experience the charm of one of Austin’s…
Best Choreographer
She looks like a dancer pictured on some old Spanish postage stamp – and she’s just about that size, too – but this woman’s work is evidence of a power-to-poundage ratio along the lines of TNT. Bravo’s company is called Kinesis, which of course means movement, and you’re likely to be moved to something near…
Best Live Music Venue
Austin’s internationally known blues club is where the legends play: Bell, Ball, Clark, Vaughan, not to mention touring icons like Etta James, Maceo Parker, and Wanda Jackson. With minimal seating, the large room is perfect for milling around, seeing, and being seen. People come to hear the music but they leave with a taste of…
Best Coffeehouse
The dreamy smattering of Christmas lights in the night sky over Spider House’s outside, coupled with inside lamps that put out only enough light inside to let you know you are alive, not enough to let you know that you are awake, makes for an intense relaxation experience. It’s the sort of place that demands…
Best Recreation Center
Well, Hancock has done it again this year. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, really. For providing services for kids, whether it’s summer camp with field trips to Sea World and whatnot or afterschool sports leagues, this city of Austin center is the way coolest. Play on, Hancock, and keep up the good work!
Best Radio Station To Listen To At Work
SEE ABOVE
Best Bathroom Graffiti
The walls get painted over a lot, but the Texas Chili Parlor’s clientele is irrepressible when it comes to unleashing their creativity. The potty-goers’ words of wisdom run the gamut from Mae West quotes like “My left leg is Thanksgiving. My right leg is Christmas. Why don’t you visit me between the holidays?” to poems…
Best View From A Pew
When you’re having trouble focusing on the more intangible aspects of the Holy One, enjoy the most ethereal panorama of creation – well, local creation, at least, available right here in Austin at Saint Luke’s on the Lake Episcopal Church. Featuring ridiculously gorgeous sunsets in one of the few remaining parts of Austin not completely…
Best Day Trip
Holy incredible mound of pink granite! The 50-foot Central Texas dome is the main feature of this fun-filled nature park. You can climb the big rock with just about anyone in your family, from young kids to grandparents. The State Park also provides trail hiking, wildlife, caving, and camping. The park is splendid all year…
Best Local Eccentric
He’s had a higher profile lately, what with his run for mayor and stint as a model for those ubiquitous dot-com ads, but don’t let that worry you: Fame hasn’t gone to Leslie’s head. Most days, you can find Austin’s favorite homeless transvestite out on Sixth and Congress; just follow the line of tourists waiting…
Best Computer Repair
Reliable, knowledgeable, and straightforward, Ken Gould and his Mac Alliance crew can make your Mac purr again. With an ample selection of replacement parts and a walk-in-friendly atmosphere, this is the Apple support one-stop. While you’re waiting, check out their bulletin board for the latest anti-evil-empire (Microsoft) news.
Best Bookstore
Only in Austin could the book megastore format become a declaration of local commercial independence. You mean you can select from a wide selection of titles and deal with staff who actually read and love them and support a locally owned business? Who’da thunk it?
Best New Eastside Theatre Space
Take this warehouse on the East Side, O ye Refraction Arts team! Take it and transform it into a wonderground of performance! Reconstruct the interior to allow theatre in all its spectacle and verve, build ye a big tech booth near the rafters, have your next-door pals – Blue Genie Art Industries – embellish the…
Best Entertainment District
It used to be that for every live music venue that disappeared on Sixth Street, another would appear. That’s still the case, except these days, nearly all of them appear on Red River. In a mere four blocks you can now choose from Room 710, Red Eyed Fly, Stubb’s, Emo’s, Atomic Cafe, Caucus Club, and…
Best Rock & Roll Slugfest At A Very Expensive Restaurant
We weren’t there, but we think it went a little like this: “Howdy y’all. Mind if’n I crank up the ballgame a little bit? I like the sound of sweaty male athletics to accompany my fine dinner fare.” “Fck you, ya daft cnt!” Pow! Or something like that. British supergroup Primal Scream managed to turn…
Best Croissant
Flaky on the outside and buttery on the inside, Sweetish Hill plain croissants taste about as close to the way the French intended as they get in Austin. They’re not chewy, they’re not greasy; they’re rich and flavorful, perfect for dunking in hot coffee. “A good croissant has a lot to do with the kind…
Best Speed Dining Experience
The food may be fast, but don’t mistake Banzai for the average greasy-spoon dive. One of the jewels of the Drag, Banzai offers authentic, homemade sushi, tempura, and other Japanese favorites – all at warp speed. Aided by a friendly staff that knows their customers, Banzai is the ideal site for quality food (their miso…
Best Place For Class Clowns To Figure Out If They Want To Be Or Not To Be
Your kid’s got energy to burn. He’s a little strange, able to channel entire episodes of The Simpsons. Suddenly, he’s breaking out into showtunes and reciting his own cryptic sixth-grade version of Shakespeare. Raging talent? A budding impresario? Maybe. Maybe not. But it doesn’t hurt to explore the options. Or maybe your little guy’s a…
Best Doublespeak Ingest Slogan
You’ve seen it on signs all over downtown. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Like maybe bands playing for free and white-collar downtown types checking it out on their lunch hours? Sure doesn’t sound like what it is – two to five years of traffic headaches while CSC and all the related projects are being erected.…
Best Radio Show For When You’ve Just Been Dumped And Want To Cry Into Your Haagen Daaz
Love is hell. Being dumped by some bastard who can’t remember your name is hell. But when you feel like buying a pint of Rocky Road and crying your eyes out, Love Songs on Majic 95.5 is more than happy to help tear at your heartstrings. The velvet voice of Stephen Michael Kerr introduces all…
Best Bowling Alley Food
Half the fun of going bowling is being able to eat and drink copiously while you roll. However, the Dart Bowl Cafe’s food is good enough to attract a sizable crowd of non-bowlers. Their truckstop-style enchiladas are legendary, but their super-size hamburgers and fresh-cut French fries are no less magical. Try a meat-and-three lunch special…
Best Swingin’est Swings
We’ve never flown so fast, climbed so high, swallowed as many bugs, and fallen on our butts so often. Tucked between north campus and scenic Hyde Park, with plenty of shade, the Eastwoods Park swing set is the perfect spot for a cool breeze across the face and the chance to hearken back to the…
Best Elected Official Who Isn’t A Council Member
Traditionally, our county commissioners have had very short to-do lists, but Sonleitner’s is full of big issues where, by design or default, she has taken charge. Whether on SH 130, the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, or the general boom-and-sprawl besieging Northwest Travis County, Sonleitner is one commish under whom grass does not grow. Let’s hope, if…
Best Role Model For Future Officeholders
Local politicians come and go, but only a few remain memorable for making good on their promises. Gus Garcia, who this year retired from the City Council after nine years (that’s three campaigns and three rounds of promises), is one of those people you don’t forget easily. Long before he ran for council, Garcia worked…
Best Substitute For A Main Street Trolley
We don’t use public transit because we don’t like to wait. Half an hour between buses is reason for aiming the gas guzzler downtown. But not if you live near the No. 1, North Lamar. Starting at the 183/North Lamar transfer center, it comes practically every 10 minutes and stops often, at locations including the…
Best High-end Bargain Hunting
Armani, Gucci, Prada. Where’s a girl to get her couture fix at bargain prices? Head south to the Brodie Oaks shopping center and Last Call from Neiman Marcus. There you’ll find racks and racks of designer duds marked down to more reasonable prices. Need a to-die-for evening gown? No problem. Purse and shoes to match?…
Smartest Idea For Recycling
Runners go through shoes like children go through pant legs. And Run-Tex runners run, no doubt about it. They’ll even train ya for a marathon! But that much running can wear out the bounce in a new pair of sneakers pretty quick. So, Run-Tex offers a 10% discount toward the purchase of new shoes when…
Best Professional Photo Lab
Professional photographers (and those who shoot like pros) who need high-quality printing turn more often than not to API for their reasonable rates, huge variety of services (including two-hour film processing), and steady hand.
Food & Drink
Best Backbreaking Service With a SmileAlamo Drafthouse WaitersWe know waiting on tables anywhere can be a pain in the neck. But imagine serving all those bozos while they’re trying to watch a film — now that’s an all-over body ache. Although owners Tim and Karrie League can claim bragging rights for the five-year-old movie house’s…
Resistance Is Futile
Sometimes, I just get lost in the Austin of it all, you know? No matter how congested the traffic gets or how ridiculously over-priced the real estate market, after almost a decade of watching this town’s unprecedented and unnerving growth explosion, I still catch myself in dreams, head-over-heels love with this town. Austin’s just *got…
Naked City
Lumberman’s Investment Corporation has offered a compromise to the city on its plans for the Sand Beach Reserve, located just north of Town Lake; the CityCouncil approves a $1.8 billion budget.
Best Billboard
Texans – even ones from the big city suburbs – know a bit about cattle. But maybe our Austin readers don’t really care that Chick-Fil-A uses Holsteins in their “Eat mor chikin” advertising campaign. Sure, they’re pretty with their big black splotches and smooth, creamy white hides, but even city slickers know that Holsteins are…
Best Dance Company
Under new artistic director Stephen Mills, Ballet Austin continues to stretch its artistic muscles with a critically successful and popularly embraced combination of new works, ambitious full-staged classics, and the perennial but never stodgy Nutcracker.
Best Movie Theatre
The Alamo started as a simple concept – “dinner and a movie,” all in one location – but has since branched out into even more adventurous territory. Since the popular downtown movie house opened a few years back, its repertoire has broadened to include midnight movies, free Saturday films for kids (and their adult guardians),…
Best Diner
While Austin may not be teeming with sleek, retro-chrome airstreamlined dives like our sister cities up north, we know “diner” from Adam. A diner is loud. A diner is greasy. A diner has good food. From deafening gangsta rap to droning trance to petrifying punk, from the overstuffed black bean beauties to the flapjacks that’d…
Best Restaurant
We regret to inform you that the near-campus Hang Town has gone to restaurant heaven. But fortunately, the Great Hills and West Lake locations are at the ready to keep the family fed! Kids love the restaurant’s snazzy take on traditional hamburger and pizza fare, and even better, the line of TVs over the counter…
Best Sportscaster
Our readers picked native Texan and native Longhorn UT grad Mike Barnes from a talented herd of local TV sports announcers. Covering the Horns since back in the mid-Eighties, Barnes is KVUE-24’s main gridiron man. Maybe his award-winning show, *Friday Football Fever, has something to do with that. We offer this, his signature “K-VeeYooo 20-Fooooour…
Best Building That Inspires Perfect Harmony
In the 10 years that the ALO has been in town (a mere nanosecond in the world of opera), the company has engendered such enthusiasm that it has become a driving force in the revamping of the Palmer Auditorium into the Long Center for the Performing Arts. But while that structure is still a few…
Coolest Place To Get Searched
In a state where you can legally carry concealed weapons by the armload, safety concerns are a fact of life. Airports, courtrooms, heck, even some schools have metal detectors. If you don’t take issue with such searches, might we recommend another? After being closed in 1974 due to several suicides, the observation deck on the…
Best Dog Walk
Not your typical singles pickup joint – this place is reserved for dogs only. The best spot in Austin for canine feet to meet and greet. A big open area with plenty of space for Rover to roam, all under the watchful eye of dog’s best friend.
Best Local Hero/Legend
There goes our hero: Lance. He graces many posters and billboards, exists in the hearts of Austin’s citizens, and the whole world can hear his name and sigh. He beat cancer, won the Tour de France, and has had 46 international victories. We can admire him for his strength in the game and for his…
Best Dry Cleaner
Dry cleaning=steam=your clothes are clean without wear and tear. Rick’s and Reid’s have perfected this little equation in their separate ways. Rick’s prices are divine ($1.79 for any garment), and Reid’s provides that added touch. Along with dry cleaning, Reid’s also provides shoe repair (in conjunction with Austin Shoe Hospital) as well as alterations. These…
Best Comics Or Specialty Books
While each of these stores cover deep niches, the strength of each, besides their obvious devotion to their specialty, is the welcoming environment to those outside the circle of devotees each store provides. You don’t have to be a card-carrying member of a club to enjoy these treasures. Upon entering Book Woman, customers are greeted…
Best Place To Pick Up A Geek
A friend of a friend sent around this e-mail one day. It was something about how a guy named Harry Pape was organizing a happy hour where you could meet fellow high tech professionals in a fun setting. Not being high tech professionals ourselves, we were intrigued by this e-mail, so we went to check…
Best Free Movie Series
Now beginning its sixth year, the Austin Film Society’s Tuesday Night Movie series is still going strong. Each season highlights a different theme or filmmaker. Last year’s included Douglas Sirk and Shohei Imamura retrospectives, a Brazilian Cinema series, and another devoted to black filmmakers. Summers are reserved for their Free-for-All, when the society dusts off…
Best Spellbinder
Just try to take your eyes off illusionist Ray Anderson when he’s holding the stage at Esther’s Pool. It’s damn near a physical impossibility. If he doesn’t transfix you with some of his “how did he do that” legerdemain, this slyly suave performer will entrance you with his dancer’s grace and effortless charm. Whether he’s…
Best Fish Taco
Oh, we love the words “del mar.” And at Changos, the Taco del Mar is truly a taste of the sea. They take Mahi Mahi and marinate it in citrus juices, then grill or fry it (your choice) and throw in pico de gallo or baja cabbage salsa. We might be hundred of miles from…
Best Spot To Wear Sequins
We did, and we felt fabulous. The art on the walls is electric, the rum drinks are potent, and it was all we could do to keep ourselves from putting down our fork of jerk chicken and shimmying around the room. Despite its welcoming, casual atmosphere, the Calabash is just that type of place: When…
Best Place For Kids To Learn To Ride Bikes
Devoted bikers who eschew oxygen-choking cars for manually powered transportation aren’t the only cyclists who bemoan the intolerance of drivers on the roads they share. The littlest peddler faces the same dangers, even though most of them don’t attempt to venture beyond their immediate block. Shouts of glee when the two-wheeler wobbles off sans training…
Best Free Beer Commercial
In an episode of The X-Files last May, agents Mulder and Scully sip on Shiner Bocks while watching television in Mulder’s apartment. Officials at Shiner headquarters in nearby Shiner, Texas, were as mystified as the rest of us as to how the alien-chasing agents picked the National Beer of Austin – it was by no…
Best Scorned Breakup Slur
We overheard this Austin-specific line one night exchanged in a heated lover’s spat: “You’re like a yellow bike; put you down and 10 minutes later someone’s riding you again.” Eco-consciousness, meet Jerry Springer.
Best Bowling Trend
It’s late night at the bowling alley: The lights go down and the music and fog from the smoke machine come up. It’s not your daddy’s bowling alley, baby: It’s extreme! It’s wild! It’s rock! It’s disco! It’s shake-your-groove booty, 10-pin, jungle-boogie action! Get your mind out of the gutter, shut yo’ mouth! Bowling like…
Best Underground Scene
For 11,000 years (that’s 550 generations) people lived along the banks of Brushy Creek in Cedar Park, leading lives so well attuned to the landscape that, eventually, no one remembered or could tell that anyone had lived there. But in 1973, archeologists scouting in advance of a Cedar Park-Round Rock highway found the Wilson-Leonard site,…
Best Environmental Matriarch
Austin has no shortage of environmental heroes. One of them who’s been on the battlefield longer than most our local greens is Mary Arnold, an old-school activist with a genteel tongue. Arnold’s institutional memory is one of the enviro community’s most valuable resources. Want to brush up on your rules-and-regs history? Talk to Mary. Her…
Best Role Model For Smart Girls
As little girls, we needed to look up to someone other than Mom. We gazed with starry eyes upon the cousins, babysitters, and camp counselors whose style and opinions and musical tastes quickly became our own, who showed by example how to handle those boys who made us feel so squirmy. Now that our cousins…
Best Vet Clinic East Of I-35
Way over yonder in Apartment City, right there in a strip mall with a check-cashing business, dollar store, and a pizza joint, Riverside Vet Clinic right off East Riverside has been caring for everyone’s best friends, plus all the cats. Dr. Susan Johnson and Dr. Henry Meyers started caring for a staffer’s puppies at six…
Best Home-Away-From-Home Greeting
There are few locations that inspire such fear and loathing in a college freshman as the University Co-Op. The infamous textbook lines have been ranked right up there with the DMV and the post office but, unlike those places, the Co-Op has always had a reputation for hiring friendly employees. No one, however, is friendlier…
Best Dose Of Being A Wild One
At least once in every God-fearing citizen’s life, there should be a hog day, with you and your woman (or whatever) as Brando and his chick (or whatever). So take a ride on the wild side. Strap on the leathers, rent a gleaming precision machine from these friendly road warriors, and tool the hill country…
Best Ray Of Sunshine
We all know that most police officers work hard to keep us safe despite the inherent danger and abuse. And what better way to let their efforts shine than give citizens more power to root the bullies and boors out of their ranks. Thanks to former council member Bill Spelman and the leaders of the…
Kids
Best Summer Camp for Spielberg WannabesAMOA’s Media Arts WorkshopsFinally, this movie town gets serious about training the next generation (the nine-to-16-year-old set): Laguna Gloria has breathtakingly upped the ante with its summer program hookup with UT’s RTF department. Professional everything from the RTF faculty to the cameras, sound equipment, computers, and studios. But you better…
Miz Liz
“I just got in from the Democratic Convention and if I’m having my picture made, I’m gonna roll up my hair.” Liz Carpenter is on the telephone, and her voice is forthright and friendly but no-nonsense. Fortunately, the effort at beauty is not necessary. “This is just an interview, right?” Right. Except there is no…
The Hightower Report
Joeseph Lieberman’s corporate contributors, guacamole factories in Mexico, Starbucks bans local newspapers, pesticides in schools.
Best Downtown Building
No matter how much the downtown landscape changes, this is the one building we can always count on to stay the same. Built in the late 19th century of native pink granite quarried near Llano, it was lovingly renovated and expanded in the late 20th century. Music venues, garish downtown officeplexes, and dot-com ventures may…
Best Museum
It’s a deceiving name; this place is fun for “kids of all ages.” Be sure to check out the three-story slide (only if you meet the small-size requirements) and the other exhibits on the main floor, including the self-contained tornado. Coming soon: the September 23 exhibit entitled “Boing” (a closer look at springs), and don’t…
Best Other Club/Venue
New ownership and recent renovations haven’t much changed the spit and spirit of this Austin punk rock cornerstone. Though the competition is growing down on Red River, Emo’s is still the Austin stronghold of music scene integrity with all-ages shows, cheap cover, eclectic bills featuring impressive local and touring national acts, and an indier-than-thou atmosphere…
Best Home Delivery
Why get dressed and wait an hour for a table when there are competent folks who will gladly bring a perfectly lovely restaurant meal right to your front door? Other delivery businesses come and go, but EatOutIn’s consistency and reliability make them our perennial favorite. With a menu guide that features some of the most…
Best Shoe Store
When baby needs a new pair of shoes, roll your dice toward Sandy’s, Austin’s best source for proper little shoes for those tender little feet. High-quality footwear for young ‘uns, just like for grown ups, costs a little more, but who wants to see their toddler hobble? Even if you’re not well-heeled, your kids can…
Best Sportswriter
Orangeblood institution Kirk Bohls takes the bacon again from his perch above the fold of the American-Statesman’s sports page. Bohls lends his insight into happenings all over the sports world, but it’s his perspective as a pundit of all things Longhorn – his lineage can be traced back to a stint as a beat writer…
Best Candidate For A Statue
When Doug Sahm died last November, he not only took a piece of Austin’s heart with him, he carried off a big chunk of Texas Soul. Fortunately, there’s plenty of the Great State to go around, like say some of that prime real estate down on Town Lake – over there by Stevie Ray. Plant…
Finest Weekend Getaway On The Water
Hosts Judy and Vic Dwyer have created their own little paradise right on Lake Travis. With private balconies, stunning views of the sunset, a cozy pool, and tons of romantic touches, this B&B feels like a hideaway. You’ll be bragging about your “vacation” for months to come.
Best Local Athlete
Used to be, “yellow streak” was a derogatory term; but the sight of Lance’s sunbright shirt whizzing by is nothing but joyfully edifying to Austinites who gather by the hundreds to cheer this hometown boy onward. He’s done it again, taken the Tour de France, and no “Ooops!” involved – because this time all the…
Best Local Internet Startup
Some dot-com ideas are just silly, and some dot-com companies are just lame, but Charitygift.com is neither. By streamlining the process of honoring special people and occasions with a gift to charity, this startup used the Internet to take something that used to be tedious and made it easy. And the business side worked well…
Best Fitness Club
Lift. Grunt. Wipe sweat. Repeat. No frills here, just good equipment, loud music, and a staff that’s seriously dedicated to pumping you up. Open 24 hours, so you can gasp, grunt, and sweat the night away.
Best Computer Store
PCs, Macs, Megabytes, RAM – these are all a drop in the bucket in the vastness of CompUSA’s warehouse stock. Although a corporation, CompUSA has found its way into Austinites’ psyche. As well as computer merchandise, CompUSA also provides tech support and computer classes and training.
Best Place To Witness Photographic History
To hell with the Gutenberg Bible, winning football teams, and Pulitzer Prizes. Other places have those. But only UT has the very first photograph ever taken. The first! Primo! In the 1820s, Frenchman Joseph Nicephore Niepce experimented with various forms of heliographs and with plates made of copper, zinc, and finally pewter. After successfully taking…
Best Funky, Dark, Treacherous-while-inebriated Club Space
“Hey sweetcheeksh, wanna go back to my plashe and shee my eshings? Yeah, me too. Oops – where’d the shtairs go? Aaaaiiieeee!!! Thud, thud, thud, etc.” Don’t even try to tell us you haven’t seen this happen.
Best Spot To Keep Your Koozie
They’ve got popcorn, leafy trellises overhead, ice-cold beer in buckets, and pinball machines, but that’s not all. At C-Huts, an ice house hidden in a block of factories, they’ll keep your Koozie behind the bar for you. Just bring in your favorite foam rubber beer holder once, and you’ll never have to think about it…
Best Fishmongering
This eclectic crew of helpful, knowledgeable fish hawkers serves up some great slabs of fish and terrific raw oysters. The kitchen knows what it’s doing as well, proffering mouth-wateringly good po-boys and the tastiest hushpuppies in town.
Best Steak
Jean-Luc Salles is a champion of the obscure cut of meat known as the Hanger Steak. The meat itself is as tender as a filet mignon, but as flavorful as a ribeye. He beds this beautiful cut of meat in a sauce made of roasted shallots and veal stock reduced until it is the consistency…
Best Place To Buy Books In Bulk
It’s elbow-to-elbow at Literacy Austin’s Annual Book Sale. And watch out! Because if you’re not careful, you’ll get an elbow to your kneecap with all the kids who come to load up with affordable books. Every year, Literacy Austin takes over a few of the available/vacant retail spaces in the west wing of Northcross Mall…
Best Free Guide To Austin
Graphic artist B.J. Smiley Goins combined her professional talents with her love for outdoor art to produce a book that offers a different kind of tour of Austin. Organized by geographic areas, the Guide to the Murals of Austin takes art lovers to the outdoor people’s galleries throughout the city – covering over 129 murals.…
Best South Austin Bumper Sticker
That just about says it all.
Best Classical Music Day Trip
Now in its 30th year, the Festival-Institute in Round Top is world-renowned for its eclectic, time-spanning repertoire. The bucolic small town northeast of La Grange hosts about 50 concerts each year, including orchestral, chamber music, choral, vocal, brass, woodwinds, and solo performances. Concert pianist James Dick, the festival’s founder and artistic director, makes frequent appearances…
Best View For Pretending You Live In L.a.
Why move there when you can sit up on the lush hill and look out over lights that could just as easily be Hollywood, so long as you concentrate on the computer millionaires’ mansions and ignore the UT Tower?
Best Girlfriend
She’s not our girlfriend or anything, but come on! Cute, smart, pretty, her own humongous share of disposable income, capable of launching nationally ignored Austin musical acts onto network TV shows in a single bound. As far as keeping a musician happy and healthy, she’s probably done more for her better half than the SIMS…
Best Unsuccessful City Council Candidate
Howe did something most “minor candidates” for City Council don’t do: He made sense. Unlike the hordes who run for office in Austin for the wrong reasons, Howe distinguished himself by making sensible and specific proposals regarding neighborhood participation in council business, light rail, and limiting the length of council meetings. He forced attentive and…
Best Way To Fix Your Computer and Fight Dragons
The CompuBARDS believe that if your computer needs servicing, don’t just call any nerd, call the Bards. They freely admit that what you often pay for with a technical visit is time waiting for downloads, etc. and seek to remedy these moments with, what else? A little folk music. Yes, in between the standard comp-speak…
Best Hot Stuff To Add To A Bath
Small homegrown businesses hit or miss, but local Natural Therapeutics is hitting the bull’s-eye packaging and distributing some hot stuff from Austin, and it’s not salsa! It’s mustard bath! In traditional medicine, mustard is renowned for its stimulating, cleansing, and rejuvenating qualities, and this product is highly regarded amongst health-care professionals and bath connoisseurs alike.…
Best Effort On The Behalf Of Girls
Rachael Muir created Girlstart to encourage girls to take an interest in math and science – direction she was never given. Through Girlstart, girls can participate in summer camps or weekend workshops which teach html and expose young women to nontraditional roles. The program participates in the Take a Girl to College Day, which lets…
Best Rehearsal Space
Ideally, the best rehearsal space for a band is any place free where nobody calls the cops on you. Barring that, Music Lab’s Oltorf and Krebs Lane locations offer a variety of well-insulated, air-conditioned rehearsal spaces with P.A. systems for as little as eight bucks an hour. And you’d be surprised how much you can…
Media
Wisest, Most Earnest SentimentMid-City Tires SignRight near Kealing Park and Kealing Junior High, this sign greets passersby with the fine admonition:Chicon, just north of RosewoodBest Guerrilla AgitpropAnonymous Cartoon/FlierSpringing up all over town in this, the age of rising rent, is a flier campaign with a grave caveat: “Warning: this neighborhood is being gentrified.” The producer/distributor…
Liz Carpenter Reviewed
Start With a Laugh: An Insider’s Guide to Roasts, Toasts, Eulogies, and Other Speechesby Liz Carpenter with Sondra Williamson Runnells Eakin Press, 274 pp., $24.95 Liz Carpenter hopes that once you’ve finished reading her new book and given a speech of your own, you will be able to say that “you’ve won them over with…
Video Reviews
Who Would Pay Money To See That? Now, don’t get us wrong — we’re not talking about the actual movies. This is about performances within performances — when an actor or actress playing a performer gets to perform onstage. We’re not talking about musicals, in which the songs move the story along, but staged performances…
Best Hotel
With downtown “redevelopment” throwing up glass-and-metal behemoths everywhere you turn, it’s nice to know that in the heart of the city there’s still a place that looks like the downtown old-timers remember: classy, refined, and tastefully charming. Sure, the Hyatt’s got everything you need; but for a taste of what upscale Austin used to be,…
Best Painter/Sculptor
If it’s an Austin landmark, chances are, Mary Doerr’s painted it. Doerr specializes in Austin’s famous places and sites. You’ve probably seen one of her many takes on the UT Tower or the Texas State Capitol. Our fave is her lush portrait of Hamilton Pool. Sure, “portrait” may not be a technically correct term for…
Best Place To Hook Up
It may be hard finding somewhere to sit most Friday nights, but who cares? Standing out on DeVille’s massive outdoor patio, you can scan the crowd for someone to talk to and strut your stuff at the same time. Once you’ve made your move, go inside and lounge in one of the club’s cozy, shadowy…
Best Lunch Deal
Good and cheap? No, there’s no catch. Kim Phung’s Vietnamese fare is a throwback to Old Austin, a time when a filling, tasty meal could be had for less than five bucks. No wonder they win year after year after year!
Best Toy Store
Boxing nuns, glass marbles, squishy rubber brains, wind-up dinosaurs, diffraction-gratinged gyroscopes, holographic puzzles, Pokémon and Sanrio, and skadoodles of other junior J-pop paraphernalia, balls that bounce crookedly, or beep when they bounce, or light up when they bounce, or simply bounce – this is where we go when we want our children, even our inner…
Best Jewelry
Don’t you love it when the good guys win? Indeed, Russell Korman is one heck of a good guy. In a world of shopping mall mentality and chain store anonymity, this one-of-a-kind independent not only does great business, he does it with a social responsibility that is the model of corporate giving. With a commitment…
Best Dan Quayle Impersonation
Picture of McDonald’s sign on South Airport reading “99¢ Breakfast Burritoes”.
Iciest Reception
There it stands, staunchly, quietly, and mysteriously, while everything around it burgeons with remodeling and music and thousands of young people arriving and laughing and drinking and leaving. If you had a time-lapse film reel that presented the last five or 10 or even 50 years of the strip of Red River that stretches north…
Best Local Team
October 14 marks the first game of the fall season, as the Ice Bats face off against the Fort Worth Brahmas. After only four years since they first laced up, the Bats finished second in their division last year, making it all the way to the semifinals, filling on average 6,000 of the 7,000 stadium…
Best Local Scandal
He’s had a higher profile lately, what with his run for mayor and stint as a model for those ubiquitous dot-com ads, but don’t let that worry you: Fame hasn’t gone to Leslie’s head. Most days, you can find Austin’s favorite homeless transvestite out on Sixth and Congress; just follow the line of tourists waiting…
Best Florist
Don’t stop by this fascinating little shop just off West Sixth looking for decorated tumbleweeds or cowgirl drag, because that’s not what you’ll find. You’ll find what readers have counted on for 22 years: unique and innovative floral designs for any and all occasions. No matter what you need to say with flowers, these folks…
Best Drugstore
Ever seen an anachronism in action? Nau’s original drugstore has been on West Lynn since 1951 and in all that time has not changed its building or shelving display. One gets an eerie feeling seeing K-Y Jelly stacked like penny candy next to the cigars or the latest copy of Maxim sitting on the magazine…
Best Promotion Of One Woman’s Art
It takes a lot of work to get your client’s creations into nearly every cafe-based space in town throughout the year and to drum up sufficient media coverage thereof. It takes organization and social engineering and a whole bunch of meetings with a plethora of people, it takes press-release generating on a scale normally attempted…
Best Hill Country Winery
Texas, not California, had the first commercial wineries in the U.S. During prohibition, most ceased grape growing. The art is finally reviving, thanks to people like Ed and Madeleine Manigold of Spicewood Vineyards and Dr. Richard and wife Bunny Becker of Becker Vineyards. Both couples are earnest and fervent believers that Texas can make world-class…
Best Still-Yakkin’ LBJ
Lady Bird is said to have had a reserved reaction, but the public watches in fascination as this life-sized silicon LBJ lifts his eyebrows, blinks, points a finger, and displays other lifelike nuances, all while telling his homespun yarns. Originally produced for Neiman Marcus by the same folks who make those amazing Disneyland figures, it…
Best Free Buffet And Post-dinner Workout
Forget the gym – work up a sweat in a much more seductive style at Azucar. Sunday evenings start with a complimentary fajita buffet and progress into free salsa lessons, drink specials, and all the right music to get us moving on the dance floor. Who could go back to the treadmill after this?
Best Taco Shell
A good shell is the key to any good taco, and you won’t get a better shell than the thick, homemade corn tortillas that hold Village Tacos together at Amaya’s. The enormous amount of shredded cheese topping is another plus. A very filling plate of three (beef, chicken, or mixed) can be had for a…
Best Place To Introduce Kids To The Real Braveheart
Those of use who lay claim to Gaelic blood have found Things Celtic to be comfortingly discerning and artful about their wares, but nothing has grown as much as their book section. You need not have Irish or even Celt in you to appreciate that its inventory has tripled in a year (the music section…
Best Guerrilla Agitprop
Springing up all over town in this, the age of rising rent, is a flier campaign with a grave caveat: “Warning: this neighborhood is being gentrified.” The producer/distributor of these cautions might remain anonymous, but he/she’s sampled known work for graphics: a panel from the ouvre of traveling cartoonist Joe Sacco. Time for a new…
Best Texas Newspaper Web Site
Sharp graphics combined with archives that allow users to access stories that are several days old and other features make the Morning News site one of the best in the country. It has special sections with archived stories on the Bush campaign, the Gore campaign, the Waco investigation, and many other topics. Plus it’s easy…
Best Excuse To Eat Boudin
So what exactly is boudin? Well, it’s just something that you’ll have to try for yourself. The perfect opportunity comes around every April at the Louisiana Swamp Romp & Crawfish Festival. This festival has it all. Great music, arts and crafts, and of course lots of authentic Cajun food. And we do mean lots of…
Best Way To Get Bats Out Of Your Belfry And Into Proper Housing
Bats have a bad rap. Starring in horror movies and getting linked to that vampire cult were definitely bad career moves. Geez, If only we’d known our Mexican free-tail friends eat more mosquitoes than we do potato chips, there would have never been any misunderstandings. Bat Conservation International is a locally based group doing worldwide…
Best Hometown Legislators
Glen Maxey and Elliott Naishtat. The heart of the Travis County House delegation and two of very few members of a 181-member Legislature who have dared to criticize Governor George W. Bush after his presidential campaign started. They also pass a lot of good bills.
Best Unsung Arts Patrons
While they’ve had a more public hand guiding the State Theater through a number of transitions – not to mention creating the Harvest Festival of new plays – this husband-and-wife team has poured valuable time and money into the local theatre scene at all levels. Especially fortunate are many smaller companies that have been beneficiaries…
Best Way To Take A Load Off Without Unloading Your Wallet
How many times have you said to yourself, “If only I had someone to rub my aching back”? While you may not be able to buy yourself a lover to fulfill your every whim, you can afford the next best thing: a head-to-toe massage by one of the handy therapists-in-training at the Texas Healing Arts…
Best Office Mascot
The jackalope-part jack rabbit, part antelope, part legend-is now a beloved office mascot. The fine folks down at Nourzads decided to make this little fuzzy and ferocious fella their office right-hand – errrr, -paw, man. Featured last year in a series of mailouts titled “Adventures of the Office Jackalope,” the jackalope took mailboxes by storm.…
Best Expansion Team
Used to be, parents and teachers listening to staff presentations at school board meetings gaped as if they were hearing messages from the twilight zone. Now that AISD superintendent Forgione has put together a new team of deputies, people may not like what they hear, but it at least sounds like the truth. Inquiries from…
Best Resident Store Cat
Enormous and good-natured, Maya is a roly-poly gem of a store mascot, reducing hyperintellectual film buffs to cooing admirers with a wiggle of her ample girth.
Outdoors & Recreation
Best SnorkelingBarton Springs PoolWe love snorkeling. On a hot day, nothing feels better than donning a mask and fins and diving in. And only at Barton Springs can we find the elusive crawfish. The fascinating turtle. The filmy forests of seaweed. And most thrilling of all, the many varieties of kicking, paddling feet.2100 Barton Springs…
Page Two
Welcome to our annual free-floating thought-association game.
Best Landscape
A Zilker Haiku for you: Oasis of shade Dappled light amid blossoms Center city-free. This “perennial” fave is back again. No wonder. In the increasing boomtown hubbub, Zilker Gardens retains its status as Austin’s finest in-town escape and respite from the daily grind.
Best Stand-Up Comic
So this big guy with a baby face walks into a bar – Okay, so the big guy with the baby face is local comic Eddie Gossling, who’s on the road so much that we had a hard time figuring out if he was still local. A contemporary of Austin nutters like Laura House and…
Best Place To Meet Your Friends
Feel the buzz of energy when you walk into this place? You’re not alone. Trudy’s defines fun eating. Whether you’re a UT frosh or a local yokel, this Austin original’s genuinely fine folks and genuinely comfy food ensure a good time will be had by all.
Best Neighborhood Grocery
We admit it. We can’t help but envy folks who live in Clarksville and Hyde Park, because they still have neighborhood grocery stores, the last two locally owned and operated Fresh Plus outlets. These are the kind of stores where you can chat with neighbors, hang up a flier about your church supper, and cash…
Best Video Selection
It’s in! What you want, baby, they got, cause that’s their promise. You may not be able to sample the more obscure offerings, but when Pokémon 2000 hits the stores and and is out of stock everywhere else, chances are you’ll be able to get your hands on it here.
Best Lingerie/Naughty
The perfect marriage of Susie Bright and the Marquis de Sade (with maybe a little Models Inc. thrown in), Forbidden Fruit departs its teenhood (it’ll be 20 next year) on top, so to speak. Three boutiques, each with its own specialty, years of “Best of Austin” awards, and still the best, friendliest, most educational li’l…
Best Drive-by Strangeness Phenomenon
Whether you think it’s an eyesore or art, this statue of a bubblegum-pink primate with clown lips, a porno-style arched back, and a disturbingly human-looking ass is nothing if not strange. The fact that it sits isolated on the corner with no further explanation (we think it’s supposed to promote the nearby bingo parlor) only…
Most Interesting Transition
When the former porn theatre on South Congress was reconstructed, we were excited, thinking maybe an arthouse theatre would finally find its way to the south side. But something else has filled the void – communications technology company Future Protocol. Huge, shiny copper plates now cover the top floors of the building, making two sides…
Best Outdoor Gear/Sporting Goods
Campers, hikers, climbers, paddlers, backpackers, skiers, fitnessers (fitnessers?!) – REI has been outfitting all sorts of outdoor enthusiasts since 1938. True to its co-op roots, this gear shop still pays an annual dividend to anyone who becomes a member of the cooperative. Their commitment to enviro causes makes them a natural complement to the Austin…
Best Local Visionary And Best Mover & Shaker
Say what you will about Da Mayor, he’s taken a torpid Austin city government and made it sing, on the radical premise that City Hall can actually be vital and helpful and that when Austinites say they value our area’s quality of life, they really mean it. If this doesn’t seem visionary to you, then…
Best Gardener/Landscaping
Ever tried xeriscaping? No, it’s not some new n’ gnarly x-treme sport or a mood-enhancing meditation practice. It’s a hot-weather way of landscaping with plants that require little water. And the folks at Great Outdoors can completely design, install, and maintain a xeriscape or any other landscape for your home or business.
Best E-commerce Web Site
Normally we hate to be targeted, e-wise, but there are certain realities of earth and sky that make it practical when it comes to gardening. Homegrown beauty Garden.com will tell you all about azaleas and other regionally inappropriate plants, of course, but if you give them a ZIP code and choose from an extensive list…
Best Team Player
There aren’t many theatres that haven’t had this omnipresent actor, director, designer, and producer working on their stages at some time since he first arrived on the scene in the late 1970s. Stuart has been the one to call on for last-minute casting, designing a set on the fly, or just lending a hand during…
Best Karaoke Con Queso
A post-taco spectacle like no other, Thursdays and Saturdays at Pato’s is the place to pay tribute to the art of the “empty orchestra” (English for “karaoke”). There’s plenty of tribute to the art of beer drinking, too, but that’s all part of the modern Americn karaoke experience, now isn’t it? Teenage girls belt out…
Best Two-Live-Music-Capitals-Fer-One
For the past six years, the Georgetown Opry at Williams Elementary School has been offering “Branson Night” on the second Saturday of each month, with entertainment of the type seen in that other U.S. city that claims to be “The Live Music Capital of the World.” Comic Dennis Miller has called the real Branson “Vegas…
Best Fritters
Gaby & Mo’s Blue Plate Specials are a tease. Each week they print a list of their scrumptious lunch specials, and we find ourselves torn: Should we wait until Thursday for the zesty Chicken Korma or go ahead and feast on today’s Meatloaf & Garlic Mashed? Well, whenever the Risotto Fritters are on tap, our…
Best Use Of A Cactus
You may want coffee with your cactus taco and you may want lemonade, but as soon as you’re served the specialty at this South Austin eatery, you’ll forget all about your beverage. Cactus (“nopalito” in Spanish) tastes tangy and sharp, a perfect complement to eggs. We tried to get the secret recipe and failed. Now…
Best Place To Send Those Gently Used Books
This past June 22, the Children’s Hospital of Austin dedicated its brand new Half Pint library. The full official name of the stacks is the Half Price Books Half Pint Library due to the fact that the Half Price folks planted the huge seed of 12,000 books to get the thing going and on the…
Best Jazz Deejay Deserving Of Wider Recognition
For the past 13 years, Laczko has been a mainstay on the Austin radio landscape, anchoring KAZI’s weeknight jazz programming. Laczko really knows his stuff, and he exudes a passion for the music that is evident in his intelligent and tasteful programming. He covers the jazz gamut from classic legends like Charlie Parker to the…
Best Way To Kick-Start Saturday Night
Saturday night need a kick in the pants? Host Scott Gardner plunges into a wild weekend Saturdays from 8-10pm with all manner of garage, punk, and savage rawk from Sixties obscurities to current local faves, plus interviews with touring bands and Austin scenester guests. Listen to two hours of this high-octane stuff and you can’t…
Best Gazing In The Grass
The graceful oasis in far Southwest Austin is the embodiment of Lady Bird herself: serene, natural, friendly, and charming. The Wildflower Center is the realization of a dream Mrs. Johnson had, and it has come to fruition in a way that exceeded our considerable expectations. It is a favorite site for weddings and other special…
Best Way To Land In The Cooler
Offering a combination of the fear of being caught by the fuzz and the physical shock of exposing one’s self to the Plutonian temperatures of Barton Springs after 10pm (not to mention the potentially high fecal coliform levels), late-night aquatic recreation at the popular swimming hole can be one of the most benign, enjoyable ways…
Best In-depth Look At G.w.
While the rest of Texas’ media seems determined to boost our governor’s drive for the presidency, Ivins and Dubose (the latter of whom just recently left The Texas Observer to become The Austin Chronicle’s politics editor) actually bothered to scrutinize W. and see if this guy really has what it takes to be leader of…
Best Volunteer Chairman
What does it take to be the Best Volunteer Chairman? The fact that this year’s festival was a resounding success is part of it. Furthermore, his cohorts tell us he runs an efficient meeting; all business, to the point, no time wasted. Knowledge, skill, and expertise are pieces of the puzzle. We are most impressed,…
Most Glamorous New Salon
Wet has an incredibly young and vibrant stable of stylists, and has become an overnight sensation. Their salon itself is as stunning as the amount of work they produce. From their constant contributions to every fashion show, to their editorial and photo work, they have an amazing energy and one of the freshest approaches around.
Best Place To Buy A Suit To Get Married In
On our wedding day, we want to look like a million bucks. For about a hundred. We like funky vintage, but Mom would faint – where we might see an entire layer of classic fashion nostalgia, all she’d see is “old suit.” Thank goodness for Second Looks. How they find their gorgeous, up-to-the-latest styles suits…
Best Gas Station Cashier
You’d think a cute, young girl would have a hard time working next to the day labor site – not Cary, who calls everyone “sweetie.” When she refused to sell beer one morning to a drunk man, he said, “You know what I can tell you to do, don’t ya?” Cary replied in a chipper…
Best of Austin 2000
Resistance Is Futile Sometimes, I just get lost in the Austin of it all, you know? No matter how congested the traffic gets or how ridiculously over-priced the real estate market, after almost a decade of watching this town’s unprecedented and unnerving growth explosion, I still catch myself in dreams, head-over-heels love with this town.…
Politics
Best Role Model for Future OfficeholdersGus GarciaLocal politicians come and go, but only a few remain memorable for making good on their promises. Gus Garcia, who this year retired from the City Council after nine years (that’s three campaigns and three rounds of promises), is one of those people you don’t forget easily. Long before…
Public Notice
Public Notice asks not what it can do for its community but what you can. This week features the second of a three-part list of Austin area Volunteer opportunities.
The Watcher
The Watcher 2000, R, 93 min. Directed by Joe Charbanic, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Yvonne Niami, Robert Cicchini, Chris Ellis, Ernie Hudson, Marisa Tomei, Keanu Reeves, James Spader. A lot of critical comparisons have been made between The Watcher and “the watcher vs. the watched” motif that permeated much of Hitchcock’s work.…
Best Motel
Built along the main highway out of town in 1938 and restored to its former glory in the mid-Nineties, the Austin Motel deserves an Austin salute for hundreds of reasons. To name just a few: It boasts both an old-style marquee advertising that it’s been “Corporate Free” since 1938 and a gorgeous Todd Sanders neon…
Best Theatre Actor/Actress
It’s funny that the winner in this specifically either-gendered category is this particular Joe: Mr. York has provided Austin musical stages with so many stunning cross-dressed performances that when we hear “The Drag” mentioned, the UT section of Guadalupe is sometimes the second thing we think of. But whether he’s belting out show tunes in…
Best Pub
Merry olde England with a twist: Whether you want bangers & mash or fish & chips from across the pond, or just some good ol’ Texas nachos from across the creek, the green freehouse nestled downtown just off the Gallery District has the perfect complement for your pint of ale. Once you’ve doused the basket…
Best Produce
Visiting chefs from all over the country are regularly dumbfounded by the depth and breadth of the available produce selections we’ve come to take for granted at both Central Market stores. If it’s in season somewhere in the world, the produce section here is likely to have it. These days, they’ll even prep it for…
Best Columnist
Kelso has been tickling our funny bone from the pages of the Austin American-Statesman since about the time UT adopted burnt orange and white as its colors, or so it seems. He’s an equal opportunity offender: Whether you’re a North Austin yuppie, a goofy Aggie, or a holier-than-thou salamander hugger, if you need to be…
Best Liquor Store
Do they carry McGillicuddy’s? Do they offer more than one selection of Irish Whisky? A decent wine selection? Cold beer? Do they have plenty of party bottles and flasks in stock? Check! Check! Check, Check. And Check! And with neighbors like the teeming grad and international students who populate the area, not to mention the…
Best Fusion Of Arts & Industry
Artists. Warehouse. Old news. Right? We thought so until we entered the squat blue block of a building at 2832 E. MLK. Katherine Brimberry and Mark L. Smith, the founders of Flatbed Press, co-owner Gerald Manson, and architect Samantha Randall transformed this vast, bland concrete bunker into a spacious and surprisingly warm arts space that…
Most Long-awaited, Overdue Public Sculpture
After 12 years, the hard work of a group of UT students has finally paid off. Their effort to diversify the subjects of statuary on the UT campus has been realized with the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. statue, sculpted by husband-and-wife team Jeffrey and Anna Koh-Varilla, on the East Mall. Here’s a…
Best Participatory Sport
Like golf? Like Frisbee? Then you’ll love Frisbee golf, or disc golf as it’s officially known. Austin Parks and Recreation maintains five different golf sites throughout the city, offering both 9- and 18-hole courses. Like Austin itself, disc golf’s casual, laid-back attitude and its emphasis on outdoor fun should merit it being declared the city’s…
Best Mover & Shaker
SEE ABOVE
Best Hair Salon
Doll yourself up and bring a friend – our readers say: Kenneth’s has 20 different hairdressers to choose from, each specializing in his/her own field of expertise, from coloring, waving, cutting, and styling. Our readers also give a well-coiffed nod to Aziz, the spa to check into when you are ready for a day of…
Best Furnishings/Home
Few retail trademarks furrow deep enough into the cultural lexicon to become adjectives (“He’s so J. Crew …”), not to mention sitcom fodder. Pottery Barn reached that status long ago, and with good reason: a consistent, recognizable style with classic modernist roots. Service is top-notch, the store itself is a study in relaxed understatement, and…
Best Theatre Den Mother
This actor and playwright watches over the local theatre scene as if it were her own precious charge, gently urging us, often via the rather sinister-sounding e-moniker skeletono, to partake of an eye-catching variety of theatrical work which she helps nurture. When not rallying support for companies as diverse as the Dirigo Group, Refraction Arts…
Best Live Music Villa
Our original comparison is still the best: UT’s Bass Concert Hall reconfigured as a 300-seat Tuscan-style villa out in the hill country of Bee Caves. Having already imported jazz legends Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, George Benson, McCoy Tyner, and Ahmad Jamal, as well as such internationally renowned acts as Susana Baca, Jose Greco, and the…
Best Use Of Ragga
In the early/mid-Eighties, you’d have thought Austin was as close to Jamaica as Cuba is to Miami, such was the pungent wave of chanka-chanka wafting through River City. A decade and a half later, Liberty Lunch is rubble and reggae’s heyday just a memory – or so you’d have thought until Sixth Street’s Flamingo Cantina,…
Best Ham Sandwiches
What better place to get a ham sandwich than a ham store? Hickory Honey Hams makes its sandwiches on fresh-baked bread with generous helpings of succulent honey-baked ham toppings galore. Tuesday’s special is a ham sandwich along with your choice of a side order (try the ham-laden baked beans) and drink for $5.99. If you…
Best Weekly Fish Fry
East Side Baptist’ll have you down on your knees singing “Thank God It’s Friday!” the first time you set tastebuds on their mouth-watering catfish lunch special. Each Friday, the University Hills area church serves up the best catfish fillets we’ve had this side of Okeechobee, Florida, delicately dusted with cornmeal and fried to golden brown,…
Best Source For Info On Kid-friendly Services
If you’ve got kids in your life, you’ve probably used the great lists and services provided by this charming local monthly. Publisher and editor Nick and Debbie Denner (respectively) know plenty about kids – they’ve got four of them. So their dedication to “providing information that promotes smart parenting and healthy families” is straight from…
Best Late-Night Insight
Host Richard Smith gives listeners a chance to sound off on Talk Time, “the program that listens to you.” Call-ins range from birthday announcements to serious debate about city planning, racism, and public affairs in Austin and beyond. We make late night a good morning by hearing our fellow Austinites out – and by adding…
Best Wine Newsletter
The Cellar’s pleasing monthly wine newsletter exists primarily to push their wines of the month. We are always pleased that they go to so much trouble to find interesting and obscure wines that haven’t had their prices driven up by demand. Newsletter creator Sue Carter also writes small, helpful articles, like how to return a…
Best Guilty Pleasure For Animal Lovers
The Squirrel-a-Whirl and its generic cousin the Squirrel Spinner are the funniest devices you’ll ever have to flagellate yourself for enjoying. Ostensibly designed to distract squirrels from bird feeders, these apparati draw the rodent to treats mounted on a carefully balanced platform, which spins the squirrel off if he missteps. The real fun comes when…
Finest Moonlight Prowl
Bullet wounds in the George Washington statue, the final resting place of UT’s first mascot, and tales of history, romance, and protest fill professor Jim Nicar’s unofficial tours of the university campus. The gregarious lecturer presents a side of the school that you won’t find in history books. It’s like hearing the family history from…
Best Ipo Survivor
Remember 1999? IPO fever had hit Austin in a big way, and dot-coms were the darlings of the day – until their bank accounts ran dry. Of the slew of companies that went public last year amid great fanfare, only one company – Vignette Corp. – has proved the survivor of the bunch. One of…
Biggest Fan Of Women In Music
Next time you’re at a live music show that features a female performer, check the audience – look for a guy with glasses and a grin from ear to ear. Chances are that’s Greg Sells, chatting with the musicians or scoping a great angle with his trusty camera from the front row. Sells is positively…
Most Imaginative Floral Arrangements
The Austin Music Awards has seen some beautiful floral displays throughout the years, but none as spectacular as in March 2000. Cowgirls & Flowers put together matching arrangements that used Stratocaster guitars and stalks of bird of paradise as part of the display. Imagine what they can do with weddings or something that requires a…
Best Place To Find Computer Adaptors
So you just bought a snazzy new PCI mouse for that old hunk of junk you call your computer. Thing is, your old box doesn’t have a PCI port, only an old-fashioned serial one. This is the kind of situation that makes Tinkertronics seem like The Final Solution. They’ve got the ultimate wall of pronged…
Best Gas Station Go-to Guy
Is there a car emergency – or repair – that Jeff can’t de-awfulize on the spot? So far, we’ve coasted in with a dead battery – in pouring rain with kids waiting in front of school and oops! Wallet’s empty! – unexplained tire failures, and equally mysterious blinking dashboard lights. No problem. He even made…
Services
Best Dog Behavior Miracle WorkerJanice Patton, A Real Friend (ARF)We have a deaf Dalmatian with issues: agoraphobia, a submissive pee-er who bites out of fear. Another local trainer repeatedly suggested euthanizing our pretty puppy; fortunately, we found Janice. After months of weekly, in-home, private lessons, we have a reasonable approximation of a normal dog! A…
Letters at 3AM
“Time flies, fun or no fun,” my friend Deborah is fond of saying. It will soon be 40 years since Billy Lee Brammer (1929-1978) published The Gay Place, written while he was an aide to Lyndon Johnson and featuring a Johnsonian character, Arthur “Goddamn” Fenstemaker. It is still the finest novel written by a Texan,…
Turn it Up
Turn it Up 2000, R, 95 min. Directed by Robert Adetuyi, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Jason Statham, Tamala Jones, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Ja Rule, Prakazrel Michel. It’s debatable whether the overall state of American film has improved much over the past few years, but one thing’s for sure: Today’s movies, with an amazing…
Best Motel And Best Storefront/Sign
Built along the main highway out of town in 1938 and restored to it’s former glory in the mid-Nineties, the Austin Motel deserves an Austin salute for hundreds of reasons. To name just a few: it boasts both an old-style marquee advertising that it’s been “Corporate Free” since 1938 and a gorgeous Todd Sanders neon…
Best Theatre Company
This is what you get when you mix original, edgy program choices with top-notch production values and some of the strongest talents in the city: events that can beguile, seduce, or simply clobber away whatever dullness might lurk within the typical theatregoing experience. The Rude Mechs, whose punk edutainment spectacle Lipstick Traces is about as…
Best Retail Beer & Wine
Visiting chefs from all over the country are regularly dumbfounded by the depth and breadth of the available produce selections we’ve come to take for granted at both Central Market stores. If it’s in season somewhere in the world, the produce section here is likely to have it. These days, they’ll even prep it for…
Best Special Occasion Restaurant
When people talk about Austin’s great “quality of life,” Jeffrey’s has to be one of the components. This classy West Austin eatery has been Austin’s special-occasion dining choice for just more than 20 years. They manage to stay on top by consistently offering wonderful food, relaxed but very professional service, and a comfortable, upscale, but…
Best Evening Radio Host
Nancella’s Eclectica show drew Friday night KVRX listeners deep into the tricky mind of Nancy Rebecca Ribak. True to its name, the weekend prelude spanned the musical spectrum from A Tribe Called Quest to Massive Attack, Nina Simone, and Modest Mouse, concocting a fresh and creative mix that graced the airwaves for two and a…
Best Music Business
This isn’t dire at all: needing musical equipment and finding yourself inside this venerable emporium of all things artfully sonic. A helpful, knowledgeable staff, a fine selection of and service for whatever strings or keyboards or winds or percussives you’re looking for (as well as the electronics to amplify them with), and – instead of…
Best Historic Bed & Breakfast
Built in 1911 as a one-story, L-shaped bungalow with wraparound porches, the Adams House in Hyde Park was elevated to a two-story colonial revival home in 1931. Architect Gregory Free rescued the house from renters and returned it to its glory days with polished pine floors, sash windows, slate flooring, and 12-foot ceilings. Hosts Sidney…
Best Annual Fashion Event
High-end production values elevate this show above most student shows. Offering designs from all skill levels, it is a show that often gives young designers their first runway opportunity, which, from fittings to finale, is one of the most valuable learning experiences possible. The enormous crowds notwithstanding, the greatest asset is what it gives to…
Best Public Golf Course
Lions continues to dominate the course as Austinites’ favorite place to hit the links. It must be that cool, humid Lake Austin breeze that keeps the greens so lush – that and the meticulous care provided by the Lions’ maintenance crew. Be sure to call before you go to find out if there is a…
Best News Story
A story that keeps coming, over and over, that has thankfully not become routine. With everything Texan in the national spotlight, every time the lights go out in Huntsville, George W. looks just a little bit less compassionate. The fact that average folks are even thinking about the wisdom of the death penalty is cause…
Best Internet Provider
Tried and true, Texas.net wins for the second time in three years as Austin’s favorite ISP. With all the cable and conglomeration of said market taking place, isn’t it nice to see a locally based independent win, y’all?
Best Gift Shop
Architecturally divided down the middle of its store by the entranceway, the Cadeau also divides itself between kitsch and elegance. To the left, you’ll find sweet little autograph books and cards, funky lamps and furnishings, and crazy wrapping paper to complete the job. The right-hand side of the store breathes cool calm composure. China and…
Best Theatre Staff
These days, it seems like nothing at the movies is guaranteed. Spotty sound, blurred picture, thermostat failure – it happens everywhere. At the Paramount, you can always count on the assistance of one the many smiling faces that comprise the theatre staff to help with any problem. And when things are running smoothly, there’s always…
Best Low-down, Texas Guitar Blues Club On Sixth Street
Yeah, we know that other place has rightfully earned the title of Austin’s Home of the Blues, but they haven’t been the only game in town for a long time. For well over a decade, Joe’s unpretentious, no-frills dive has never charged a cover and has been a much-needed venue for countless up-and-coming blues bands…
Best Way To Rock The Boat, Baby
Frustrated by the lack of originality in the local electronica scene these days, promoter Brent Bruning received a dream one night in which a wizened old DJ (possibly A Guy Called Gerald) urged him to “Go wet, young man, go wet.” Inspirato, like persperato, can be a liquid affair, and before you could say “Avast…
Best Historic Restaurant & Grounds
This place is straight out of a 19th-century novel, parading peacocks included. Imagine an authentic 1890s Victorian mansion on seven acres in the heart of South Austin minutes from downtown. No way, you say. Blink your eyes and be transported. An Austin tradition since 1945, Green Pastures is a jewel, an elegant dining establishment set…
Finest Upholding Of Austin’s Southern Food Tradition
Austin has a strong and well-established Southern food tradition that dates back more than half a century to legendary eateries such as Green Pastures (elegant plantation style), the Southern Dinette (small family joints), Threadgill’s (down-home cooking meets the music scene), and Dot’s Place (affordable cafeteria style). Homegrown chef Hoover Alexander embraces Austin’s Southern food tradition…
Best Summer Camp For Aisd Malcontents
If your child’s Friday folder brings tears to your eyes over what might have been had the district valued learning over TAAS scores, this camp’s for you. Modeled upon a university program for gifted kids from preschool through 8th grade, parent and therapist Karen Sims Langdon, M.Ed., has assembled a stellar faculty to teach subjects…
Best Local Color Commercial
Yeah, it’s The Bank. And The Bank is The Man. But we’ve got to admit, Liberty Bank’s new local TV ad campaign featuring gorgeous sweeping portraits of a few colorful and very right-on entrepreneurial-types (who presumably bank with said institution), like Threadgill’s Eddie Wilson, Hotel San Jose’s Liz Lambert, and Katz’s Marc Katz, hit us…
Four Finest Consecutive Hours Of Austin Radio
Nothing beats waking up on a beautiful Saturday morning, turning on the radio and just going about your day without having to switch stations every five minutes. The Lounge Show’s mix of crooners, chanteuses, cocktail jazz, exotica, and retro-futurism keeps your toes tappin’ until noon. Then Ear Candy takes over with two hours of glorious,…
Best Nature Experience
Whether you’re looking for a place to commune with nature or for classes for the school-age explorers, the Wild Basin Wilderness offers the community an incredible resource. Hiking trails wind through a deep valley in the hills, a short drive from downtown Austin. Every weekend special programs introduce or reacquaint the visitor with the wonders…
Hardiest Perennial/Most Free-growing Herb
As our collective St. Augustine lawns toast to a crispy brown, there’s one perennial that remains hardy, giving, and green. It’s rosemary. New residents may not realize that those dried flakes in their cabinets are a poor substitute for fresh branches of their large and fragrant backyard hedge. Poor soil? No water? No problem. Cheap,…
Best Island Of Sanity
When the 11,000-member Hyde Park Baptist Church tried to bully its neighbors into moving aside for a planned five-story expansion to its existing 500-space parking garage, one by one, everyone caved. Everyone, that is, except Lyova Rosanoff, the 32-year Hyde Park resident whose house sits on the last remaining corner of the block slated for…
Designer Most Likely To Succeed
With the love of the fashion game in her blood, and a taste for quality and high style, not to mention practically endless financial resources, she has all the marbles. Her Davenport Hills boutique is a temple of chic in this arid desert, showcasing Mrs. Dell’s couture sensibility, as well as her ability to produce…
Traffic Signal Most In Touch With The Needs Of Its Community
It’s green when we top the hill just south of the West Lynn Cafe. We don’t speed up because we know we won’t make it. It’s red as we approach Nau’s Pharmacy from the east. We happily slow down because we know if we just creep up it’ll change without us ever having to stop.…
Best Potpourri
It’s hard to say which is more alluring about this gallery of furniture and artifacts: Is it the meandering succession of room after room of South American treasures? Or is it the enticing, citrusy aroma that gently wafts out the door as you pass by? We think it’s the aroma first, the goods second. The…
Best Grooming School For Grownups
Would you like to run for office someday? Are you jockeying for a promotion? Or do you just want to do good things for your community? Whatever your ambitions, Leadership Austin may have a seat at the table for you. Each year, this program accepts a cross-section of about 50 folks for nine months of…
Shopping
Coolest Old Wedding GownsIvory AislesGibson girl or flower child, this shop has the “something old” part covered. When Vera Wang doesn’t quite cut it for you, Rex will outfit you in vintage fantasies of laces and satins, and the walk down the aisle embraces the future as well as the glorious past.2032 S. Lamar, 444-6484Best…
After a Fashion
Nothing validates a scene like its own magazine.
Alice et Martin
Alice et Martin 1998, R, 124 min. Directed by André Téchiné, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Juliette Binoche, Carmen Maura, Mathieu Amalric, Alexis Loret, Marthe Villalonga. Every adult is a reaction to a childhood. Our adult form represents the survival of (or the succumbing to) the traumas and triumphs of our youth. For…
Best Mural
A colorful feel-good snapshot of life leaps out from the outer wall of this Gap location on the Drag. Look at it for more than a fleeting moment and you can’t be unaffected by its upbeat message of the power of touch, prayer, and creativity.
Best Theatre Director
Whether it’s futuristic operas, group-generated pieces, cutting edge performance art, youth summer projects, or classics with a strictly modern take, the Vortex’s Bonnie Cullum nurtures them with a combination of ambition, passion, and a generous spirit that infuses all of them.
Best Swanky Joint
Imagine yourself sipping martinis on the rooftop deck while swinging your hips to live blues. Legendary musicians have played here among the brass and dark woodwork. While mostly known for its appeal to the martini-and-cigar set, Speakeasy still welcomes the Bud-and-Marlboro set – which might explain the expanded booking policies to include not only jazz…
Best Waitstaff
Why are these people smiling? And why do they seem to be having as much as fun as the guests? Could it be because Trudy’s knows how to treat its people? When the waitstaff actually enjoys hanging together at the same place where they just did a daylong shift, you know you’re in for one…
Best Journalist
Reporters like Nate Blakeslee are what the venerable Texas Observer has always been about: Hard-hitting, deep-digging, muckraking journalism that carries on the tradition established so long ago by Ronnie Dugger. Cynical, corrupt politicos should cringe if they get a call from Nate.
Best Neighborhood Hardware
Longtime Austinites are spoiled by Breed’s neighborhood convenience and friendly customer service, so there’s not much danger we’ll drive to the far suburbs in search of hardware. Thousands of repeat customers know Breed’s will have what they need and a familiar employee to patiently explain its use. And while the home-improvement types are busy fondling…
Best Jetsons-Style Taqueria
Perhaps this is how architects in the 1960s envisioned the taqueria of the 21st century – a domelike structure with cement wings arching out in four directions. Even a regular taco under the fluted ceiling of El Rancho Grande #2 becomes an excursion into an art deco future.
Best Art Incubator
In these boom-happy times, people seem to be forgetting what brought most folks to Austin in the first place: our vibrant creative atmosphere. It seems that we’ve also forgotten that in order to create works of cultural significance, artists need affordable office and studio space. The Artplex houses a variety of low-budget, grassroots arts organizations,…
Best Public Sports Venue
Behind a multibillion-dollar corporation’s funding, this minor-league ballpark – home of the mighty Round Rock Express – is more luxurious than most. With a DiamondVision scoreboard, party suites, Sports Court, and swimming pool, seeing a baseball game is more than just something to pass the time; it’s a full-bodied, multimedia recreational experience. There are even…
Best Nonprofit Group
These sisters are doing it for themselves. Since its inception in 1997, Girlstart (formerly known as Smartgrrls) has worked to empower girls all over the city to hone their skills at science, math, and technology with afterschool workshops, Saturday programs, and winter and summer camp retreats. You go, girls!
Best Laundromat
A place where you can feel good about not being able to afford your own Maytag combo, this newish facility boasts a huge space, a ton of modern appliances, and several TV monitors built into the cabinetry. Definitely the posh of wash.
Best Avant-garde Fashion Designer
Mr. Coleman, a former member of the experimental noise group Liquid Mice and mad-scientist creator of the Mechanical Pit Bull that once (dis)graced the stage of the Letterman show, has been holed up in his foresty Bastrop sanctum for years now, creating such mind-blowing lingerie from wires and LEDs and acid-etched metal plates that his…
Best Voice Of Authority
Some stage performers need time to develop that convincing sense of experience that grounds them in a character or a song. Not Janis Stinson. The instant this warm, funny actress/singer opens her mouth, whether it’s to belt out “Blues in the Night,” deliver the poetic musings of a grieving widow in The America Play, or…
Best New Large-scale Electronica Venue
Nature abhors a vacuum, and so, apparently, does Keith La Rosa, aka Luna, of System-7 Records, who realized some months back that Austin’s rave community was sorely lacking in legitimate venues for the 24-hour party people to shake their groove thangs in. Enter Pulse, a massive warehouse-type space with mucho adjoining acreage located six miles…
Best Wine Class
We revere teachers who are fervent advocates of what they love. Villim occasionally passes from fervent to ecstatic, but always in an infectious way. His knowledge of wine is encyclopedic. Classes cost $100, which is actually a bargain, given that he pours over 40 wines. The four-session class covers the basics of grape types and…
Best Late-night Sugar Fix, North
Those in on the doughnut in-on-in have always known about the drive-through at Mrs. J’s. While late night bakers toiled away, afterhours club revelers could sometimes coax them to the window to purchase hot pillows of glazed luv. Oh, and at 4am those fluffy sugared pillows are hot! This year, the bakery defined its hours…
Healthiest Mexican Lunch Specials
Line up at lunchtime and fill your tray for cheap with a couple of side dishes and whatever wonderful veggie entrees are being offered that day. Top it all off with a big glass of icy horchata, and you’re all set to stargaze at the cute rock stars in your midst.
Best Summer Camp For Spielberg Wannabes
Finally, this movie town gets serious about training the next generation (the nine-to-16-year-old set): Laguna Gloria has breathtakingly upped the ante with its summer program hookup with UT’s RTF department. Professional everything from the RTF faculty to the cameras, sound equipment, computers, and studios. But you better have an answer ready for when your 10-year-old…
Best Morning Update Of Local Issues (Internet)
For more than five years now, this subscriber-supported online newsletter has had no peer in covering city issues. Ken Martin (the founder and now staff writer) and Jo Clifton (the reporter who just became the new owner) go to the meetings, keep their ears to the ground, and dig up the dirt on everything going…
Most Evenhanded Movie Criticism
The locally generated Web site and listserv Juxtaposeur bills itself as a site that reviews reviews and critiques critics. Every Friday when the new movies open, Juxtaposeur presents samples compiled from the reviews of a variety of major national film critics as well as a well-written summary of the film. In one concise spot, you…
Best New Rec Facility
Austin doesn’t have enough YMCAs to begin with, but state-of-the-art athletic facilities are but one of many amenities the Eastside could really use. And with the center of East Austin moving farther east all the time, it’s becoming more important to having such amenities out past Springdale Road and along Ed Bluestein. So the East…
Most Amazing Footprints
And we thought we were Austin old-timers. In the back of Zilker Botanical Gardens, a large fight took place millions of years ago between a turtle and a dinosaur. Nowadays, the prints are visible, and we love to take sandwiches over to gaze at them and think about who really lived in Austin in the…
Best Local Visionary
Not everyone will stand up and tell his friends and colleagues that they’re selfish pigs. But even rarer is the man who, after having lobbed that bomb, will work to repair the damage and change the community’s wayward ways. High tech Poo-Bah Zandan, the brains behind the two 360 Summits, seems to be that guy,…
Most Civic-minded Public Attorney
As it turns out, Oden was right to suspect that the Austin Independent School District was leaking a lot more dropouts than it reported. And as a court ruled recently, Oden had full purview to pursue indictments of criminal negligence against the district. But last October, Oden agreed to let the high-profile case go if…
Best 99¢ Vinyl
The back room at Sound Exchange is chock-full of used 99¢ vinyl that no one seems to notice, but those of us with turntables and perseverance can make out with some excellent finds. Although collector’s items are few and far between, Eighties cheeze metal mavens will have a field day. After all, wouldn’t you rather…
Best Resident Store Baby
The cutest, most charming, sensitive, and hilarious baby ever to take up residence in the back of a vintage clothing store is toddler Johnny Lee. He entertains customers with arm-raising, smile-flashing antics while his mom runs her cool shop. Johnny Lee’s room is also the dressing room; so if he’s napping in there, you have…
Best House Calls For The Housebroken
So Rover throws up every time she gets in the car? Fluffy is allergic to the outdoors? Or taking the cat to the vet on the bus is beyond your stamina? What’s a responsible pet owner to do? Call in the vet. Unlike people doctors, several Austin animal doctors still make reasonably priced, routine, small-animal…
Architecture & Lodging
Best Motel and Best Storefront/SignAustin MotelBuilt along the main highway out of town in 1938 and restored to its former glory in the mid-Nineties, the Austin Motel deserves an Austin salute for hundreds of reasons. To name just a few: It boasts both an old-style marquee advertising that it’s been “Corporate Free” since 1938 and…
Mr. Smarty Pants
Spinster frogs! Paunchy Filipinos! Miscreant ministers!
Duets
Duets 2000, R, 112 min. Directed by Bruce Paltrow, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Huey Lewis, André Braugher, Scott Speedman, Maria Bello, Paul Giamatti, Angie Dickinson. This awkwardly nuanced story about the world of karaoke hustlers and other lost souls will have you singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home”…
Best New Building
There’s an ancient design dictum that says the really great buildings, looks-wise, would make perfect bases for glass-topped coffee tables, were those buildings shrunk to room-sized proportion. Seems that most of our readers would enjoy having a miniaturized Idea City, with its tastefully conflicting bricks and glass panels and shapes and colors, supporting the silicate…
Best Theatre Space
From live theater to classic film, world music to dance, the Paramount not only offers something for everyone, but does it up in a most stunningly sumptuous environment. Spend an evening in this space and you’ll see why the theatre was originally called The Majestic.
Best User-friendly Web Site
In markets across the country, Cox Interactive (the new-media arm of the American-Statesman’s parent company) has established the template for the local-info Web site, and it looks exactly like Austin360.com. Not only Austinites, but millions of Americans, have voted with their mouse fingers for the Cox structure and interface.
Best Arcade
It doesn’t take a genius to tell that this is one of the more popular attractions on the drag, a place increasingly becoming overrun by high-end boutiques and chain eateries. Now how are ya supposed to blow off steam in places like that? It’s all relative, we guess. Fortunately, Einstein’s can fix you up, whether…
Best Local Talk Radio Host
As if it isn’t enough that Aeilli’s broad-spectrum taste in music gives listeners fuel to expand their musical horizons, his probing interviews with people from actors to zitherists provides nourishment for the mind, too.
Best Pawn Shop
Pawn shops are the best way to get the finer things in life, such as jewelry and musical instruments, for a finer price. Doc Holliday’s helps out even more with sales on different items throughout the year. Unquestionably a savior when you’ve really pissed your girlfriend off.
Best Ladies Room At UT
Stylish and scrupulously clean, this oasis features natural light, bright colors, inventive use of mosaic tile, and lots of the color teal. It far outclasses other entrants, such as the dank UGL basement and the worn and ugly horrors of the first floors of the PCL and CMA. Yet for exclusivity and swank, we suspect…
Best TV Anchorperson
Though we’re quite sure her skills and talents warranted moving to a bigger media market some time ago, one of the things we love best about Judy Maggio is she made a career choice to make Austin her home. She’s not just some hairdo passing through town on her way up the corporate media ladder;…
Best Secret Swimming Hole
Other than “Mind Your Own Business” and “Not Telling,” Hamiton Pool tops our readers’ list of secret swimming holes. It’s no secret that Hamilton Pool is a rejuvenating retreat, a small natural grotto formed when a cave fell in thousands of years ago, a lush forest paradise, with overhanging moss-covered cliffs, and clear, cool water.…
Best Scandal
SEE ABOVE
Best Pharmacy
Being sick is the pits. But Nau’s Pharmacy holds more than a few remedies for that problem. Kindly pharmacists direct sickies to those over-the-counter concoctions that make a throat less sore – like cough drops or an ice cream from the lunch counter a couple of feet over. If stronger stuff is needed, the Norman…
Best Biannual Fashion Event
Every six months, this extravaganza offers Austin’s most entertaining and eye-popping assortment of fashion and fun. CDV’s outdoor venue is a perfect setting for the runway hijinks of this charity benefit, loaded with local celebrities and dazzling clothes from some of Austin’s premier independent retailers. Such diverse themes as “Death to Pastels” and “The History…
Best Year ’round Programming For The ‘geist
AMOA’s got its finger on the pulse of what it takes to be a citizen of the world – living in Aus,Tex. Wanna be more conversant about film theory at dinner parties? Jump-start a dormant right-brain hemisphere by tapping into your Creative Awareness? Learn how to design your own landscape? Tweak your home-video making skills?…
Best Off-Broadway Live Music Venue
It’s been standing there, just off MLK on Lavaca and 18th Street, since 1871, but most live-music-goers of Austin had no idea the former German opera house even existed before the Golden Arm Symphony packed its stately interior in spring 2000. Since then, South by Southwest used it for a raucous Asylum Street Spankers &…
Most Fabulous Way To Spend Happy Hour Thursdays
While some folks swear by the bingo card, claiming that getting that fifth in a row is the ultimate rush, others consider David Beebe to be the drawing card for Thursday Happy Hours. Beebe has evolved his latter-day lounge act from his renegade frat rock days in the Schlitz Quarts and then in the enormously…
Best Late-Night Sugar Fix, South
Next time you need a quick post-clubbing fix for that sweet tooth, head south to La Mexicana. This brightly lit spot on South First opens in the wee hours – 4am everyday. Literally bursting with cookies – Mexican wedding cookies, and green cookies and red cookies, and yummy Mexican sweet breads and flaky pastries -…
Moistest Lemon Cake
Specializing in some of Austin’s best “Hot!” Elgin Sausage (among other open-pit delights) for about 15 years, this hot pink Eastside landmark at the corner of Harvey & MLK is a gathering place for lunch loungers and supper savorers alike. It might not occur to most barbecue-nuts to indulge in a fresh dessert at a…
Best Things That Make You Go Moooooo
It’s a little game we play with our kids whenever we go out to eat. Who can last the longest with the stupidest milk moustache before wiping it off before others notice? Okay, so it’s not the most suave of lessons for our juniors’ future dates, but it passes the time and pumps ’em full…
Best Morning Update Of Local Issues (radio)
We disagree with just about everything KVET’s acerbic Sammy Allred and Bob Cole have to say, but darn it, if you want to know what’s going on in this town’s political scene, their 6-10am morning show just can’t be beat. They’ve grilled officials from Cap Met to the Council Chambers, sometimes face-to-face in studio interviews.…
Most Insight Into Modern Education
We hear a lot of talk these days about the sorry state of education and the best ways to improve the lot of the 21st-century student. Unfortunately, most of it is blather from people who haven’t spent an hour in a classroomsince LBJ was a president and not a high school. How refreshing then to…
Best Place For An Old Lady To Learn To Ride An Old Horsie
Lifelong Texan? And how old are you? You say you don’t even know how to get on a horse? Well, “neigh” to that! The mercifully pretense-free Bear Creek Stables – free from $2,000 children’s show saddles, high black riding boots, and horses worth more than a shiny pickup – teach riding plain and simple, with…
Nicest Way To Take It Off & Put It Right Back On
There’s no better way to explore our fine city than on foot. And on a leisurely afternoon, with a cool breeze and that cloudless blue Texas sky, here’s the perfect idea to while away the time. Begin at the river, you know, Town Lake, follow Congress up to the Capitol, head north through UT’s scenic…
Best Mass Organizer
When the Millennium March on Washington hit a serious snag just six months before the national event was scheduled to take place, organizers of the gay and lesbian march picked up the phone and summoned Dianne Hardy-Garcia to Washington, D.C. They knew that if anybody could save the day it was Hardy-Garcia, the executive director…
Most Improved Community Organization
Not everyone likes it, but boy, is this not your grandmother’s Heritage Society. By putting preservation on the public agenda – not just as a cute thing rich folks do, but as an environmental, affordability, and social-equity issue – the HSA is washing that blue rinse right out of its hair and becoming a community…
Best Alternative For Ebay Junkies Without A Computer
“Is it a lamp, or is it a birdhouse? You decide!” Sometimes that’s the best description the denizens of Auction Access can come up with at 4am, and who can blame them? The newest, most fascinating insomniac attraction in town is this one-camera, “home game version” of eBay, airing 11pm-6am most Sunday-Thursday nights way up…
Best Thrift Store Strip
Instructions for the bargain shopper: Once all the garage sales are picked over, the thrift stores should just be opening, so if you still have that urge, start at the 4900 block of Burnet and keep going north until your car’s full and/or you’re out of money, exhausted, sated.
Best Housecalls For The Housebroken
So Rover throws up every time she gets in the car? Fluffy is allergic to the outdoors? Or is taking the cat to the vet on the bus is beyond your stamina? What’s a responsible pet owner to do? Call in the vet. Unlike people doctors, several Austin animal doctors still make reasonably-priced, routine, small-animal…
Arts & Entertainment
Best Art GalleryArt on 5thDrawing on respectable selections of the stars of world-renowned art has given Art on 5th its stellar reputation. Exhibits of Dr. Seuss and Andy Warhol have been the most famous works to come through, but the biannual vintage poster exhibit and sale is always popular as well. Austin artists comprise about…
Day Trips
Captain Daytrips announces his own annual Best of (in the daytripping vicinity of) Austin awards.
Cartoon Noir
Cartoon Noir 1999, NR, 81 min. Directed by Julie Zammarchi, Paul Vester, Pedro Serrazina, Suzan Pitt, Piotr Dumala, Jiri Barta, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring . Having noir in the title may give this anthology of animated shorts a certain continental flair, but it isn’t exactly helpful in providing a feel for the…
Best Public Artwork
The bats under the Congress Avenue bridge are fickle creatures, appearing briefly each night briefly at dusk between May and October before flitting off to Mexico in search of warmer climes. Fortunately, the bridge is watched over all year long by this iconic iron sculpture, created by Dale Whistler in honor of the colony that…
Best Bar Ambience
Imagine that in the Cold War 1950s, your hippest, thrift-store-shopping uncle built a bomb shelter that could double as a cocktail lounge. That’s this place: So casual and funky and dimly lit you’ll forget you’re not underground – unless you’re chilling on the big patio outside. You don’t have to wait for the return of…
Best Video Store
The campus-area and SoCo Vulcan locations are the video store of choice among genuine film fanatics, and we know the reason why. When you’re looking for film entertainment that exists somewhere outside the Hollywood mainstream, when an old and obscure film noir or a cutting-edge indie flick are what you crave, locally owned Vulcan is…
Best Bookstore
The very recent closing of the much-beloved Toad Hall makes this a heartbreaking posthumous award. We hate to think of Austin kids without Barbara Thomas and her well-informed, book-loving staff to choose just the right book to feed eager, inquiring minds. If the loss of a nationally respected independent children’s bookstore is part of the…
Best Locally Produced Radio Show
As if it isn’t enough that Aeilli’s broad-spectrum taste in music gives listeners fuel to expand their musical horizons, his probing interviews with people from actors to zitherists provides nourishment for the mind, too.
Best Pet Store
Is it the gold jewel collars with matching leashes that make us swoon? Perhaps. More likely it’s just the small and intimate nature of Bark-n-Purr’s store and the personal attention that make us feel as pampered as the pups. Pet food and collars galore, but they also supply birds and fish and offer dog-grooming services.…
Best Men’s Restroom In A Live Music Venue
Nightclubs are not commonly known for their immaculate restrooms, but Red Eyed Fly’s male facilities are inviting to all but the most terminally pee-shy guys. The self-flushing urinals festooned with plastic insects add an extra element of cleanliness, while sparkling hep metal sink basins encourage frequent hand-washing in an arena where it ain’t exactly de…
Best TV Newscast
Thanks to the continuing policies established by legendary late KVUE news director Carole Kneeland, Austin viewers can count on thoroughly professional, nonsensational news coverage anytime they tune into KVUE. None of that trashy “if it bleeds, it leads” brand of coverage from our local ABC affiliate. The crack KVUE news team gets us all the…
Best Skating Rink
Well, since we hold the “Best of Austin” poll during the first month of the Texas summer, it stands to reason that y’all would vote in an ice rink. Heck, Chaparral stands on its own anyway, year-round. An added plus is that the Northcross Mall location is located next to the food court, so even…
Best State Department
Both this paper and the daily have recently run stories about “Texas parks in crisis,” but what’s remarkable is how good a state park system we do have, considering what kind of state government we have. From right here in the Austin city limits to the far corners of the state, TPWD lets everyone touch…
Best Photo Lab
Local pros count on Holland for a full spectrum of professional photographic services that are usually way beyond our mundane everyday needs. However, when we required a restoration job on a recently discovered turn-of-the-century snapshot of a great-great-great grandmother, we knew exactly where to turn. We entrusted the old gal to Holland’s expert hands for…
Best Casual Grace
When rhythm tap master Acia Gray does her thing, it’s clear that she’s just doin’ what comes naturally. We have no other explanation for her uncanny ease of movement, the effortlessness of her syncopation, and the unbridled joy she expresses in both feet and face. This co-founder of Tapestry Dance Company has the casual grace…
Cheapest Highbrow Date
You’re a student – or just about as tightly budgeted as one (well, one without a trust fund -) You meet hottie. You like hottie. You ask hottie on date, then realize you got no scratch to impress hottie. You hope hottie likes the same things you do. You hope hottie can converse him/herself out…
Best Place For A Lethal Drink
Oooh, Mexican Martinis! Have a few sips, and damn! Watch out! Maybe it’s the damp Town Lake atmosphere. Or maybe it’s all the pretty people. Nope, we’re pretty sure it’s the drinks. But it’s all a little hazy. Just be sure to bring a driver and, as the sign in the bar warns, don’t leave…
Most Nostalgic Phone Booth
While it’s hard to ignore the great bands the Carousel books on a regular basis to play beneath the huge papier mâché elephant, if you look to the other end of the club, you’ll see a glass door through which sits a lovely relic from an age that could be called “B.C.” (Before Cellular).
Best Malts
This place kicks the fast-food chains’ collective ass with their great burgers and especially their cheap, delicious malts. Sandy’s drive-through is the ideal destination after a long swim at Barton Springs Pool. In combo, Sandy’s and the pool are a foolproof treatment for the summer heat.
Most Happily Rediscovered Vegetarian
Sometimes love is found in the most unexpected places. For example, it seems that many folks don’t realize that this kitschy East Austin eatery – known for the past four decades as a great place to get chicken mole enchiladas, big, beefy chile rellenos, and even bigger, beefier Aztec-themed calendars – would also be an…
Best Trip To The Seventies
“Mama, tell me what life was like back then. It was so long ago, mama. Please, tell me all about The Seventies.”Oh son (wistful sigh), let me take you to a place that will show you better than I can ever tell. See, darling? See these large, chunky resined wood tables? And the hanging plants…
Best Off-the-Air Voice
John Aielli’s Eklektikos shoulders a heavy load as KUT’s most popular program, but he would be the first to point to assistant Jen Proctor as part of the reason for the show’s success. Proctor is usually heard reading community announcements with Aielli and books his ever-eclectic carousel of guests. Proctor joined Eklektikos as producer in…
Most Underappreciated KUT Shows
Teresa Ferguson’s silky purr on Femme FM is a delicious complement to the satin sounds of the ladies she plays. She’s one of the few deejays who can make us turn up the radio for her backsell, even if we already recognize what she just played! Ferguson’s playlist ranges from Sara Hickman to Sarah Vaughan…
Best Place To Dog-watch
This quaint little park tucked away in Clarksville is silent at night and during most of the day. But around 6pm, when everyone is getting home from work – let’s just say, watch where you step! The park suddenly comes alive with all walks of life, of the canine variety, that is. Dogs have always…
Best Austin-Based Advocacy Group
Founded by a group of Benedictine Nuns (lovingly known as the Twisted Sisters), this numbers-crunching think tank might be the best single advocacy group working the Texas Legislature. Their reports – usually advocacy for the poor and working poor – are highly regarded, even by the wiggy right. And the press loves them. Got a…
Best Patron Of The Saints
At 80 years young, Liz Carpenter may support herself as a speaker, but her tales and speeches are priceless. Here’s a woman from Salado, Texas who went from being the first female vice-president of the UT student body to Press Secretary for Lady Bird Johnson, not to mention author of four books. Media advisor, speechwriter,…
Most Lucky
In March, Henderson became the most famous person to win the Texas Lottery. The winning ticket was purchased at Nau’s Enfield Drug Store in Austin. Back in his pigskin heyday, the former Dallas Cowboys star fell from grace after being convicted of a felony and sentenced to 28 months in a California prison. Since returning…
Best Candidate For Nickname “the Arboretum Central”
Remember the good old days? You know, back when “pedestrian-friendly” meant sidewalks, not suburban-style shopping malls? Those days are long gone, pal, and by the looks of the crowded parking lots already surrounding the outdoor megamall at Sixth and Lamar, a fair number of Austinites are saying good riddance. Seemingly overnight, a satellite of the…
Best Timeout From “cool” Stores
Everyone’s all worked up about small businesses getting pushed out by the likes of Wal-Mart, et. al, but what about the blight to the department store? As people put a French accent on Target, dah-ling, the make-up counters of Sears beckon, calling us back to this endearingly unhip blast from the past.
Best Laundry Attendants
The friendly gals at our local Kwikwash seem more like neighbors than just workers doing their jobs. Orie works most weekdays, and if you can catch her between helping customers and keeping the place shiny clean, you might have a laugh together over the latest Jerry Springer or chat a little about the latest goings-on…
